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US President Donald Trump on Sunday included Chad in a new list of countries whose citizens are prohibited from entering the United States.
The list of countries now affected by the ban include:
- Chad
- Libya
- Somalia
- Iran
- North Korea
- Syria
- Venezuela
- Yemen
The ban placed on Sudan earlier this year has been lifted
The presidential proclamation on Sunday said that although Chad’s government is “an important and valuable counterterrorism partner of the United States”, it does not share enough information to enable the U.S. to judge whether its citizens pose a threat to public safety.
“Additionally,” President Trump added, “several terrorist groups are active within Chad or in the surrounding region, including elements of Boko Haram, ISIS-West Africa, and al-Qa’ida in the Islamic Maghreb.”
The proclamation did not mention Sudan, but the Washington Post reported senior Trump administration officials as saying that Sudan’s “cooperation on national security and information-sharing showed it was appropriate to remove it from the list”.
Trump also named Libya as a valuable counter-terrorism partner but said the country faced “significant challenges in sharing several types of information, including public-safety and terrorism-related information necessary for the protection of the national security and public safety of the United States”.
In Somalia’s case, he said although the government met the U.S.’s requirements for sharing information, it was unable to give consistent and effective cooperation to the U.S. In addition, the “terrorist threat that emanates from its territory” presents special circumstances justifying a ban on immigrant visas.
However, unlike citizens of Chad and Libya, Somalis will be able to apply for “non-immigrant” visas – allowing for short-term family, tourism and business travel, subject to heightened scrutiny of visa applications.