
President Donald Trump is considering extending his extraordinary travel bans to include another 36 countries.
Trump imposed a full ban on nationals from 12 countries, and partial restrictions for visitors from another seven countries earlier this month as part of an ongoing effort to rid the United States of foreign threats and secure the borders.
Now it can be revealed the State Department also identified another 36 nations in an internal memo which are on the cusp of being added to the list.
These nations included Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Dominica, Ethiopia, Egypt, Gambia, Ghana, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Malawi, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, Senegal, South Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Tonga, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
They were given 60 days to improve on a series of benchmarks to be considered safe under the Trump administration.
Each of the affected nations has been ordered to provide remediation plans by Wednesday 8pm or risk being added to the dreaded exclusion list.
According to documents viewed by The New York Times, they must each ‘take immediate action to mitigate ongoing vetting and screening concerns, develop corrective action plans to remediate deficiencies and evaluate progress.’
The countries have been added to the list for any number of reasons, including but not limited to previously having high rates of visa overstays, or failing to cooperate in taking back citizens who have been deported.
Trump also flagged countries which don’t have a central government which produces reliable identity documents, or the ability to adequately inform the US government of criminal records.
Nations where citizens have been involved in terrorism, or ‘antisemitic and anti-American activity in the United States’ have also been flagged.
This was particularly apparent with the inclusion of Egypt days after an Egyptian citizen who overstayed his visa in the United States set fire to a group of pro-Israel demonstrators in Boulder, California.
Trump said the tragedy in Boulder ‘underscored the extreme dangers posed to our country by the entry of foreign nationals who are not properly vetted.
‘We’ve seen one terror attack after another from foreign visa overstayers… thanks to Biden’s open door policies today there are millions and millions of these illegals who should not be in our country.’
The president then directed several of his top national security chiefs to investigate whether Egypt should also be added to the list of restricted nations.
‘In light of recent events, the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Attorney General, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the Director of National Intelligence, shall provide me an update to the review of the practices and procedures of Egypt,’ he wrote in his initial proclamation.
Countries could also earn their way off the list or help to mitigate the government’s concerns if it agreed to accept third-country nationals from the United States whom they had tried to deport but could not return to their country of origin.