The Trump administration has given 36 countries, most of them in Africa, a Wednesday deadline to commit to improve vetting or face a ban on their citizens visiting the United States.
A weekend diplomatic cable sent by the State Department instructs embassies and consulates in the 36 countries to gauge their host countries’ willingness by Wednesday to improve their citizens’ travel documentation and take steps to address the status of their nationals who are in the United States illegally.
The cable, which was described to The Associated Press, asks the countries to take action to address the U.S. concerns within 60 days or risk being added to the travel ban, which now includes 12 nations. Of the 36 new countries targeted, 25 are in Africa.
State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce declined to comment on the specifics in the cable. She confirmed that the administration wanted nations to improve their own vetting processes for passport holders, accept their nationals deported from the U.S. and take other steps to ensure their citizens are not a threat to the U.S.
“We’re looking at providing a period of time, (where if countries) don’t get to that point where we can trust them and they’ve got to change the system, update it, do whatever they need to do to convince us that we can trust the process and the information they have,” she said.
The 36 countries identified in the cable are: Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Dominica, Ethiopia, Egypt, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Malawi, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, South Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Tonga, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The Washington Post first reported on the cable.
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12 Comments
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SomeWeeb
His bullying at home isn't going well, so he's turned to small third world countries to pick on. It's barely been 6 months of this garbo and the world is pretty much already done with Dumpy.
1glenn
What do all of these countries have in common? Like Antigua and São Tomé? They aren't likely to be able to bribe Donald to leave them alone.
GuruMick
Vanuatu !....most peaceful people on the planet.
I notice all these countries have black or brown skinned people.
Could be relevant
How many of people from the banned nations have caused a major gun death incident ?
wallace
Why the Buddhist state of Bhutan? population of a mere 800,000? Trump does not have to give his reasons. Tuvalu, a tiny Pacific island with a mere 10,000 people. Tonga, another Pacific island with a population of 100,000.
It does not make any sense.
kohakuebisu
It's very poor doing this before an Olympics and a football World Cup. They are global events, and countries that don't want global people shouldn't get to host them.
The African countries have loads of great footballers, Salah and Marmoush for Egypt, Mbeumo for Cameroon ....
John-San
So only Arians and Jews get free pass into the USA
bass4funk
No bullying, just laying the groundwork
I’m sorry, but what does that even mean?
TaiwanIsNotChina
We need to at least see if Syria and Egypt can be kept from promoting terrorism. This is more important than Trump's bumbling attempt to seal the border.
bass4funk
No, sealing the border is the first and foremost important and top priority for Trump to do. You don't have closed borders, you have no country, bottom line.
ok1517
bass,
remember, Donald doesn't know what priorities means.
He got only concepts!
TaiwanIsNotChina
This country has never had sealed borders. Even ones with moats aren't completely sealed.
bass4funk
He got only concepts!
and puts them into action!