An internal State Department cable indicates that Washington is considering significantly expanding its travel restrictions by potentially banning citizens of 36 additional countries from entering the United States, Reuters reports.
Among State Department concerns raised in the cable are the lack of a competent or cooperative government by some of the countries mentioned to produce reliable identity documents; the “questionable security” of a given country’s passport; countries not cooperating in facilitating the removal of its nationals from the US; certain nationals overstaying US visas, and countries whose nationals have been involved in acts of terrorism in the US, or antisemitic and anti-American activity.
According to Reuters, the countries that could face a full or a partial ban if they do not address these concerns within the next 60 days are: Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cote D’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Dominica, Ethiopia, Egypt, Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Malawi, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, South Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Tonga, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
This would significantly expand the ban that came into effect earlier this month, which affected Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Congo Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
The entry of people from seven other countries − Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela − has also been partially restricted.
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