US President Donald Trump on Sunday restricted or suspended travel to the US from eight countries, adding North Korea and Venezuela, while subtracting Sudan, from his earlier ban on travelers from six Muslim-majority nations.
“I must act to protect the security and interests of the United States and its people,” Trump wrote in Sunday’s proclamation.
The move came as the original order, which had been limited by court challenges, was set to expire.
Speaking to reporters earlier, Trump said “the tougher, the better” about the restrictions, which are to remain in place until the countries are found to have changed their behavior.
During his presidential campaign, Trump spoke often of “extreme vetting” of those wanting to enter the US.
On Sunday he tweeted: “We will not admit those into our country we cannot safely vet.”
The new restrictions affect travel to varying degrees from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen, all of which were on the original list. The US is also to restrict or ban travel from Chad, North Korea and Venezuela.
Each of the countries is to be subject to its own set of restrictions, as set out in Sunday’s order.
The US Department of Homeland Security would have the authority to add or remove travel restrictions on countries as conditions change, a senior US administration official said.
New parts of the restrictions are to take effect on Oct. 18, after a grace period that might prevent the kind of mass confusion seen at airports in the US and abroad after the initial iteration of the travel ban took effect immediately.
Other limitations took effect on Sunday.
“The State Department will coordinate with other federal agencies to implement these measures in an orderly manner,” US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in a statement.
The previous travel ban was scheduled to expire on Sunday after the US Supreme Court’s ruling in June, which tailored the ban to only include those who have no “bona fide relationship” to the US.
Acting US Secretary of Homeland Security Elaine Duke sent Trump recommendations for entry restrictions and additional visa requirements tailored to shortcomings in the information each country shares with the US, and an assessment of the risk of terrorist infiltration the nation poses, US administration officials told reporters on Friday.
“The restrictions announced are tough and tailored, and they send a message to foreign governments that they must work with us to enhance security,” Duke said in a statement on Sunday.
In the order, Trump said the US Secretary of Homeland Security assessed that Iraq also did not meet requirements for identity-management protocols and other risk-mitigating factors, but that entry restrictions were not warranted given the country’s ties to the US and efforts to combat terrorists.
Trump’s previous efforts to restrict travel to the US prompted court challenges, mass protests and criticism from corporate leaders.
He rescinded his first travel ban after it was halted by a judge and replaced it with an executive order on March 6, which was challenged at the Supreme Court.
That order was set for an Oct. 10 argument at the Supreme Court.
It is unclear how the new restrictions issued by Trump will affect that case, which also covers a separate provision of the order that suspends refugee admissions until Oct. 24.
US Department of Justice spokeswoman Sarah Flores last week said government lawyers would continue to “vigorously defend” the travel restrictions.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of