The Trump administration announced immigration bans on six countries, including Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation.
Citizens from Nigeria, Eritrea, Myanmar, and Kyrgyzstan are disallowed from applying for immigration visas into the United States under the new policy. Sudan and Tanzania, two African countries, will be prohibited from the U.S. diversity lottery program, which selects 50,000 random immigrants from underrepresented countries and grants them green cards. Many recipients of the program are from African countries.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the rollout is part of the administration’s plan to strengthen security from countries that do not comply with U.S. security standards or with expectations to stop illegal immigration.
The six countries join a list of seven other countries, most of which are majority-Muslim. Trump signed his first travel ban on Jan. 27, 2017, one week into his first term. However, unlike the travel bans placed on five of those countries — Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen — travelers who wish to travel from the newly added countries can do so for business or pleasure.
The new policy does not eliminate any travel restrictions from citizens on previous lists, including North Korea and Venezuela.
Trump’s travel ban has gone through multiple iterations and faced many legal challenges during the president’s first term, but an amended version was upheld by the Supreme Court in June 2018 and again during the executive order’s third iteration.
The White House issued a proclamation on Friday confirming the new ban. “As President, I must continue to act to protect the security and interests of the United States and its people. I remain committed to our ongoing efforts to engage those countries willing to cooperate, to improve information-sharing and identity-management protocols and procedures, and to address both terrorism-related and public-safety risks,” the announcement reads.
