U.S. President Donald Trump is resurrecting the travel ban policy from his first term, signing a proclamation Wednesday night preventing people from a dozen countries from entering the United States.
The countries include Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
In addition to the ban, which takes effect at 12:01 a.m. Monday, there will be heightened restrictions on visitors from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.
“I must act to protect the national security and national interest of the United States and its people,” Trump said in his proclamation.
Ten of the 19 countries under the bans and restrictions are in Africa, nine of those from majority Black African countries. Several of those, including Sierra Leone, Togo and Equatorial Guinea, are not known for hosting armed groups that pose a major threat to the West.
The list results from a Jan. 20 executive order Trump issued requiring the federal departments of State and Homeland Security and the U.S. Director of National Intelligence to compile a report on “hostile attitudes” toward the U.S. and whether entry from certain countries represented a national security risk.
Echoes of prior ban in 1st Trump term
During his first term, Trump issued an executive order in January 2017 banning travel to the U.S. by citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries:Â Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen.
Front Burner24:26Are you worried about U.S. travel?
For many Canadians, travel to the United States is a yearly routine. But that’s started to change.
People around the world have shared stories about travel to the U.S. gone wrong. Some have been pulled into the back rooms of airports for additional screening, others have been pressured to share their social media accounts for examination and in the worst case scenarios, detained.
Now, out of fear or even national pride, many travelers are rethinking their travel plans. In March, nearly 900,000 fewer Canadians visited the U.S. So, what might you encounter if you choose to head down south? Is there reason to be concerned?
Today, Hannah Sampson, a travel reporter with the Washington Post, joins the show to break down the reality of traveling to the U.S. under Trump.
For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit:Â https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts [https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts]
It was one of the most chaotic and confusing moments of his young, first presidency. Travellers from those nations were either barred from getting on their flights to the U.S. or detained at airports after they had landed. They included students and faculty as well as businesspeople, tourists and people visiting friends and family.
The order, often referred to as the “Muslim ban” or the “travel ban,” was retooled amid legal challenges, until a version was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2018.
The ban affected various categories of travellers and immigrants from Iran, Somalia, Yemen, Syria and Libya, plus North Koreans and some Venezuelan government officials and their families.
Trump and others have defended the initial ban on national security grounds, arguing it was aimed at protecting the country and not founded on anti-Muslim bias. However, the president had called for an explicit ban on Muslims entering the U.S. during his first campaign for the White House.
