The prohibition of entry into the United States for nationals from 12 countries promulgated last week by Donald Trump entered into force at 4:01 GMT on the night of Sunday, June 8 to Monday, according to the text of the presidential decree.
This decision, taken to “protect the United States against foreign terrorists and other national security threats,” according to the presidential proclamation, refers to the citizens of Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Congo-Brazzaville, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
A decision similar to “Muslim prohibition”
The American executive, who carries out a very restrictive anti-immigration policy, motivates the registration of countries interested in this list by the absence of effective administrations to guarantee the control of travelers and the tendency of the nationals of some to remain in the United States after the expiration of their visas.
The nationals of seven other countries are affected by the restrictions in the liberation of visas: Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.
The US president compared this decision announced last Wednesday on the “effective restrictions” that had imposed on nationals from seven mainly Muslim countries, qualified by his detractors as “Muslim prohibition” at the beginning of his previous mandate, in 2017.
Four countries are also in both lists: Iran, Libya, Sudan and Yemen.
“As president, I must act to protect national security and national interest in the United States and its population,” said Donald Trump in the decision text, who says he wants to “protect the United States against foreign terrorists.”
The real estate magnate significantly cited the attack committed on June 1 in Colorado by an Egyptian whose visa had expired to illustrate “the extreme dangers represented by the entry of foreigners who have not been properly controlled.” This attack against the participants in a weekly walk in support of the Israeli hostages in Gaza was 12 injured.
A “discriminatory, racist and absolutely cruel decree”
“We will not allow what happened in Europe in the United States,” Donald Trump added in reference to attacks, sometimes jihadists, perpetrated by foreign citizens.
These prohibitions were welcome with concern and perplexity by several specific countries. The UN High Commissioner of Human Rights, Volker Türk, expressed his “concerns regarding international law” due to “very broad and general scope” of this prohibition. Amnesty International denounced a “discriminatory, racist and absolutely cruel” decree.
The African Union (AU) said it was “concerned about the potential negative impact of such measures”, even in “diplomatic relations” with the countries involved.
One of them, Chad has announced to suspend the concession of visas to US citizens as a reprisal measure.
“I know the pain that Trump’s cruel and xenophobia Infiction Infiction, because my family was hit hard,” on Sunday the Iranian-American-American official Yassamine Ansari, a member of the Congress. “We will fight with this prohibition with everything we have.”
However, exceptions are provided to the headlines of certain visas, for diplomats and people whose trip to the United States “attends to national interest.”
The players who participate in the 2026 World Cup, which will take place in the United States, Mexico and Canada, as well as in the Los Angeles Olympic Games (2028) will not be affected by restrictions.
The promulgated prohibition in January 2017 had caused significant demonstrations in several important US airports.
Source: BFM TV
