Trump administration expands US travel ban list.
“I don’t want to give a specific number, but it will be more than 30 countries,” said Neom. US President Donald Trump has pledged to continue evaluating countries.
In June, Trump banned citizens of 12 countries from entering the United States and restricted the entry of citizens of seven others.
He claimed that the measure was necessary to protect against “foreign terrorists” and security threats.
The ban applies to immigrants and non-immigrants, including tourists, students and business people.
The US Secretary of Homeland Security, who was interviewed by Fox News, did not name the countries that would be added to the list.
He added: “If they don’t have a stable government and their country is not able to protect itself, why should we allow people from these countries to come to the United States?”
The comments come as the US Citizenship and Immigration Services has stopped accepting immigration applications from citizens of 19 countries of “concern.”
The 19 countries include Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela.
CNN previously reported that the administration would review all green cards issued to citizens of the 19 countries, but the halt to immigration applications is another step in the US government’s crackdown on immigrants.
The decision comes days after two National Guardsmen were shot dead in Washington, D.C., leaving one soldier dead and another seriously injured. The suspect in the shooting, identified as an Afghan national, previously served with the US military in Afghanistan and was resettled in Washington state under former President Joe Biden. He was granted asylum under the Trump administration.