According to an internal letter obtained by Reuters and people familiar with the situation, the Trump administration is thinking of enacting a new ban that would include broad travel restrictions for citizens of dozens of nations, reports RTE.
There are 41 nations included in all, split into three groups, according to the letter. A complete ban on visas would be imposed on the top ten nations, which include, among others, Afghanistan, Iran, Syria, Cuba, and North Korea.
Five nations—Eritrea, Haiti, Laos, Myanmar, and South Sudan—would be subject to partial suspensions in the second category, which would affect student and tourist visas as well as other immigration visas, with some exclusions, reports RTE.
A partial suspension of US visa issuance would be considered for 26 countries in the third group, including Belarus, Pakistan, and Turkmenistan, if their governments “do not make efforts to address deficiencies within 60 days,” according to the document.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a US official warned that the list may change and that the government, including US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, had not yet given its approval, reports RTE.
The list of nations was initially revealed by the New York Times.
The action is reminiscent of President Donald Trump’s first-term travel ban on citizens of seven majority-Muslim countries, which underwent many revisions until the Supreme Court affirmed it in 2018.
On January 20, Mr. Trump signed an executive order mandating that all foreign nationals applying for entry to the United States undergo more thorough security screening in order to identify potential national security risks, reports RTE.
According to that directive, a number of cabinet members were required to produce a list of nations whose “vetting and screening information is so deficient” by March 21 in order for travel to be partially or completely prohibited.
The immigration crackdown that Mr. Trump initiated at the beginning of his second administration includes this edict, reports RTE.
He pledged to ban anyone from the Gaza Strip, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, and “anywhere else that threatens our security” in an October 2023 address outlining his proposal.
Following two federal court decisions that mandated the restoration of thousands of employees, President Trump’s administration showed no signs of reversing its plan for a second round of mass layoffs and budget cutbacks throughout the US government, reports RTE.
But Thursday, Vice President JD Vance said that the reduction process, which has been accelerating since Mr. Trump took office in January, has made mistakes.
As part of Mr. Trump’s effort to drastically restructure the federal bureaucracy, federal departments were given until Thursday to submit comprehensive reorganisation plans. He has mostly delegated this responsibility to Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, reports RTE.
Thus far, the DOGE initiative has resulted in the termination of thousands of programs and contracts, the freeze of foreign aid, and the possible loss of over 100,000 jobs across the federal civilian sector, which consists of 2.3 million employees.
At times, DOGE’s strategy has been so disorganised that important government workers, including experts fighting avian flu and those in charge of the nation’s nuclear arsenal, have been recalled and sacked.
At the same time, the economic dangers associated with Mr. Trump’s global trade battle have shook financial markets, reports RTE.
Despite Wall Street equities being higher yesterday, stock markets have plummeted over the last two weeks, losing $5 trillion (€4.5 trillion) in value due to worries that Mr. Trump’s plans will trigger a recession.
“Elon himself has said that sometimes you do something, you make a mistake, and then you undo the mistake. I’m accepting of mistakes,” Mr Vance said in an interview with NBC News, reports RTE.
“I also think you have to quickly correct those mistakes. But I’m also very aware of the fact that there are a lot of good people who work in the government – a lot of people who are doing a very good job,” Mr Vance said, reports RTE.
“And we want to try to preserve as much of what works in government as possible, while eliminating what doesn’t work,” he added, reports RTE.
Some agencies were forced to restore hundreds of probationary employees who had been fired in recent weeks by rulings in federal courts in Maryland and California on Thursday, reports RTE.
The White House promised to retaliate, labelling the justices political activists. The government has requested that the court postpone the enforcement of his decision until the conclusion of the appeal against the California order.
“This injunction is entirely unconstitutional,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said. “You cannot have a low-level district court judge filing an injunction to usurp the executive authority of the president of the United States,” reports RTE.
Tell us your thoughts in the Facebook post and share this with your friends.
