The United States President, Donald Trump, has confirmed that the nation plans on expanding a controversial travel ban to include more countries.
Trump revealed this in an interview with the Wall Street Journal on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. He, however, declined to list the countries that will be included in the new announcement.
US news platform, Politico hinted the announcement was expected on Monday, the three-year anniversary of the original order, which targeted several majority-Muslim nations. The order was announced without warning on January 27, 2017, some days after Trump resumed office as the 45th President of the United States.
The included five majority-Muslim countries are: Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen.
Criteria for the ban
A senior Trump administration official said that countries that failed to comply with security requirements, including biometrics, information-sharing and counter-terrorism measures, faced the risk of limitations on U.S. immigration.
Belarus, Myanmar, Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Nigeria, Sudan and Tanzania are among the countries that may be included in the list.
However, a survey by the Washington-based Pew Research Centre has listed Nigeria as one of the strongholds of Trump, even as his support remains largely negative around the world.
Any waiver?
Under the current version of the ban, citizens of Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Syria and Yemen, as well as some Venezuelan officials and their relatives are blocked from obtaining a large range of U.S. immigrant and non-immigrant visas.
Chad was previously covered under the ban but was removed in April 2018.
Citizens of the countries can apply for waivers to the ban, but they are exceedingly rare.
VANGUARD
