President Trump includes Venezuela in new immigration veto

[et_pb_section fb_built="1" _builder_version="3.22"][et_pb_row _builder_version="3.25" background_size="initial" background_position="top_left" background_repeat="repeat"][et_pb_column type="4_4" _builder_version="3.25" custom_padding="||||" custom_padding__hover="||||"][et_pb_text _builder_version="4.9.0" background_size="initial" background_position="top_left" background_repeat="repeat" hover_enabled="0" sticky_enabled="0"]President Donald Trump signed a new executive order adding North Korea, Chad and Venezuela to the list of countries with travel bans to the United States, effective Sunday, September 24.

The restrictions for Venezuela will go into effect on October 18, 2017 and are limited to government officials and their immediate family members on B-1 (business), B-2 (tourist), and B-1/B-2 (business and tourist) nonimmigrant visas.

The new executive order entitled "Presidential Proclamation Enhancing Vetting Capabilities and Processes for Detecting Attempted Entry Into the United States by Terrorists or Other Public-Safety Threats" details that the veto will affect officials of the following Venezuelan entities: The Ministries of Interior and Justice, Foreign Affairs, the Administrative Service for Identification, Migration and Foreigners (Saime), the Scientific, Criminal and Criminalistic Investigations Corps (Cicpc) and the Bolivarian National Intelligence Service (Sebin).

The document justifies the inclusion of Venezuela because "its government does not cooperate in verifying whether its nationals pose national security or public security threats. The government of Venezuela does not adequately share information related to public security and terrorism, fails to satisfy at least one key risk criterion, and is deemed not to be fully cooperative with respect to the reception of its nationals subject to U.S. removal orders."

The ban does not include other Venezuelan citizens.

Travel Restrictions to Affected Countries

The other countries with restrictions include:

Chad - Citizens of Chad may not travel to the United States on immigrant visas and on B-1 (business), B-2 (tourist), and B-1/B-2 (business and tourist) nonimmigrant visas.

Iran - Citizens of Iran may not travel to the United States on immigrant and nonimmigrant visas, except that citizens of Iran on F and M (student) and J (exchange visitor) visas may travel to the United States and will be subject to more stringent screening and selection requirements.

Libya - citizens of Libya may not travel to the United States on immigrant visas and on B-1 (business), B-2 (tourist), and B-1/B-2 (business and tourist) nonimmigrant visas.

North Korea - citizens of North Korea may not travel to the United States on immigrant and nonimmigrant visas.

Somalia - citizens of Somalia will not be able to travel to the United States on immigrant visas, and nonimmigrants traveling to the United States will be subject to more stringent screening and vetting requirements.

Syria - citizens of Syria may not travel to the United States on immigrant and nonimmigrant visas.

Yemen - citizens of Yemen may not travel to the United States on immigrant visas and on B-1 (business), B-2 (tourist), and B-1/B-2 (business and tourist) nonimmigrant visas.

In the new order, Sudan, one of the six countries included in the original immigration veto, was removed from the list. However, citizens of Sudan and Iraq will continue to be subject to heightened scrutiny when applying for immigrant and nonimmigrant visas.

The new executive order also details mechanisms for citizens of affected countries to request exemptions from the blockade.

A waiver may only be granted on a case-by-case basis if an alien demonstrates to the satisfaction of the consular officer or U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer that: (a) denial of entry would cause extreme prejudice to the alien; (b) entry would not pose a threat to the national security or public safety of the United States; and (c) entry would be in the national interest.

Previous Executive Actions

President Trump previously issued two executive orders entitled "Protection of the Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into the United States" and "Executive Order Protecting The Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into The United States". Both executive actions are currently involved in litigation in federal courts.

The first executive action barred entry for 90 days to persons from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen and to refugees of any origin for 120 days while an assessment was made in the admissions process.

After making corrections to the original version, the second executive action went into effect on June 29 and expired yesterday - the same day President Trump announced his new executive action of the immigration veto to countries he believes should have greater scrutiny before granting access to their citizens.[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]