Donald Trump announced modifications to his controversial travel restrictions today.
Making America Safe is my number one priority. We will not admit those into our country we cannot safely vet.https://t.co/KJ886okyfC
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 24, 2017
For those of you who would rather not click on something from Donald Trump, here are the basics of the modifications:
- Restrictions were removed for Sudan
- Restrictions were kept for Iran, Libya, Somalia, Yemen, and Syria
- Restrictions were added for Chad, North Korea, and Venezuela
Here’s something interesting though…
So a lot of the controversy of the first travel ban was that it seemed xenophobic and too broad. In today’s announcement, the White House went into a little more detail about countries who would be added/removed in the future. What the USA is looking for are things like electronic-embedded passports with traveler data in them (it makes passports harder to forge) as well as how much information those countries share with the USA about passenger criminal histories.
Furthermore, it looks like future scenarios will be evaluated on a country-by-country basis. Per NBC News, all visas will be restricted from North Korea and Syria, while visas for travelers from Iran will still be permitted for students and exchange visitors. The US will restrict immigration visas for Somalians but still allow tourist visas, although travelers will be subject to additional scrutiny.
So, if nothing else, it’s at least interesting to start seeing some of the thinking behind these restrictions, even if millions still disagree with them.
The White House press statement has more information for those concerned. The new policy goes into effect October 18th.
[author’s note: I always encourage comments from readers, but I absolutely hate politics and am just trying to inform. Please feel free to talk politics in the comments section if you want but I do ask that you be respectful of opposing viewpoints and keep all language family-friendly]
Andy – It’s important and useful to read the DHS Travel ban from February 2016 if you are going to talk about this subject. This is not a political statement, just a statement of fact https://www.dhs.gov/news/2016/02/18/dhs-announces-further-travel-restrictions-visa-waiver-program
So – Obama in 2016 already identified these same countries out of the dozens of muslim countries as being problematic because the countries in question were not very good at vetting people who traveled.
Unfortunately, in the middle of all the kerfluffle, this does not get reported.