The Trump administration’s plan to ban people from 43 countries from travelling to the US is delayed indefinitely as staffers continue to work on a report that would explain all rules of the idea.
Trump issued an executive order on January 20 requiring intensified security vetting of any foreigners seeking admission to the US to detect national security threats.
The White House then put out a dramatic memo in mid-March that showed the nations broken down into different categories, with particular sanctions set for allies of Russia.
However, the ban has been delayed because the State Department continues to miss deadlines to submit a report to Donald Trump giving detailed recommendations for restrictions.
They were originally due on March 21 but department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said Monday that its still being worked on.
‘I can tell you that we’re working on what the executive order asked for, which is not travel bans of course but the nature of restrictions from other countries if – whether or not they meet the standard of security and vetting that’s required for entry into the United States,’ she said.
A new deadline for the report to reach Trump’s desk does not currently exist but Bruce confirmed it is still in the works.
‘Again, because there’s not a date, it doesn’t mean that it’s not being worked on. So we are all working to implement what President Trump has ordered,’ she said.
The Trump administration’s plan to ban people from 43 countries from travelling to the US is delayed indefinitely as staffers continue to work on a report that would explain the full rules of the ban
The White House put out a dramatic memo in mid-March that sees key allies of Russia placed under heavy sanctions as people from several other nations could see their dreams of travelling to America slashed
When the DailyMail.com reached out for comment, the State Department reiterated their commitment to fulfilling Trump’s executive order.
‘The Department is undertaking a full review of all visa programs as directed under E.O. 14161 and executing on administration priorities. The Department does not comment on internal deliberations or communications. We have nothing to announce at this time.
Alongside Russia, several nations from across the globe have been told their governments have 60 days to address deficiencies or they will remain on the list.
A memo showed countries divided into three separate groups – including full visa suspensions and partial suspensions.
Many are from the Middle East and Africa, with Afghanistan, Cuba, Iran and North Korea among the 11 who face the most drastic measures.
In the second group, 10 countries would face partial suspensions that would impact tourist and student visas as well as other immigrant visas, with some exceptions.
And in a third group, a total of 22 countries would be considered for a partial suspension of US visa issuance if their governments ‘do not make efforts to address deficiencies within 60 days’, the memo said.
A US official cautioned there could be changes on the list and that it was yet to be approved by the administration, including US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, after it was reported on by the New York Times.
The ban has been delayed because the State Department continues to miss deadlines to submit a report to Donald Trump giving detailed recommendations for restrictions
For many in America, the policy will hark back to Trump’s explosive ‘Muslim ban’ during his first term in office. Some of the countries in the new proposal were also on the 2017 list, but many more are new.
Some of the new additions share similar characteristics with the previous list, in that they are Muslim-majority or nonwhite, poor and are considered to be corrupt, the American newspaper adds.
Trump’s directive is part of an immigration crackdown that he launched at the start of his second term.
He previewed his plan in an October 2023 speech, pledging to restrict people from the Gaza Strip, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Yemen and ‘anywhere else that threatens our security.’
The list is said to have been drawn up by the State Department and had already been reviewed by embassies and regional bureaus.
Their advice is said to include whether the attitudes towards the countries on the memo are based in fact and whether there are policy reasons for not restricting immigration from any.
Rich businessmen or people on immigrant and tourist visas could still be allowed to enter the US on the ‘orange’ list, where visas are restricted.
But they would first be made to attend mandatory in-person interviews to obtain a travel pass, the New York Times reports.
A new deadline for the report to reach Trump’s desk does not currently exist but a spokesperson confirmed it is still in the works
It is not clear whether people with existing visas or green cards would be exempt from the ban.
The further category includes 22 nations who would be given 60 days to address their supposed deficiencies, before potentially being moved onto the other lists.
These issues are said to include not having enough security in issuing passports, failing to give enough information about travelers or selling citizenships to people from banned countries.
The dramatic new plans come as Trump escalated global tensions as he warned World War III could ‘very easily’ erupt and would prove to be ‘a war like no other’ with catastrophic nuclear weapons if peace talks over Ukraine failed.
Claiming much of the progress had been made since he became president, Trump went on to say that he had been speaking with the Russian premier ‘to get the war over’.
