US President Donald Trump’s administration is mulling a new travel ban that would affect citizens from dozens of countries to varying degrees, the New York Times reported Friday.
Citing anonymous officials, it said the draft list featured 43 countries, divided into three categories of travel restrictions.
The red category of countries whose citizens would be completely barred from entering the United States includes Afghanistan, Bhutan, Cuba, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela and Yemen.
Another 10 countries in the orange category — Belarus, Eritrea, Haiti, Laos, Myanmar, Pakistan, Russia, Sierra Leone, South Sudan and Turkmenistan — would see their visas sharply restricted.
“In those cases, affluent business travelers might be allowed to enter, but not people traveling on immigrant or tourist visas,” the New York Times said.
Citizens from countries on the orange list would also have to undergo in-person interviews to receive a visa.
Another 22 countries on a yellow list would have 60 days to address US concerns or risk being moved up to one of the more stringent categories.
“The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive internal deliberations, cautioned that the list had been developed by the State Department several weeks ago, and that changes were likely by the time it reached the White House,” the New York Times said.
As one of his first acts in office, Trump froze the United States’ refugee admission programme and almost all foreign aid.
Trump ordered the US government to identify countries whose nationals should be banned from entering on security grounds, a move akin to the so-called “Muslim ban” of his first term.
That ban — which in 2017 targeted citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen — ignited international outrage and lead to domestic court rulings against it.
Iraq and Sudan were dropped from the list, but in 2018 the Supreme Court upheld a later version of the ban for the other nations — as well as North Korea and Venezuela.
Red list
Countries whose citizens would be completely barred from entering the United States include:
1. Afghanistan
2. Bhutan.
3. Cuba.
4. Iran
5. Libya
6. North Korea
7. Somalia
8. Sudan
9. Syria
10. Venezuela
11. Yemen
Orange list
Citizens from countries on the orange list would also have to undergo in-person interviews to receive a visa. These countries include:
12. Belarus
13. Eritrea
14. Haiti
15. Laos
16. Myanmar
17. Pakistan
18. Russia
19. Sierra Leone
20. South Sudan
21. Turkmenistan
Yellow List
They would have 60 days to address US concerns or risk being moved up to one of the more stringent categories. The following countries fall into that category:
22. Angola
23. Antigua and Barbuda
24. Benin
25. Burkina Faso
26. Cambodia
27. Cameroon
28. Cape Verde
29. Chad
30. Republic of Congo
31. Democratic Republic of Congo
32. Dominica
33. Equatorial Guinea
34. Gambia
35. Liberia
36. Malawi
37. Mali
38. Mauritania
39. St. Kitts and Nevis
40. St. Lucia
41. São Tomé and Príncipe
42. Vanuatu
43. Zimbabwe