President Donald Trump is considering replacing his ban on travelers entering the U.S. from six predominantly Muslim nations with a set of more specific and tailored restrictions based, in part, on how much information countries share with the U.S, Bloomberg reports.
The Department of Homeland Security has sent Trump recommendations for entry restrictions and additional visa requirements based on shortcomings in the information each country shares with the U.S. and an assessment of the risk of terrorist infiltration the nation poses, administration officials told reporters on Friday.
Officials have added that the changes could be put in place as soon as this weekend, with a new proclamation from Trump.
“The acting secretary has recommended actions that are tough and that are tailored, including travel restrictions and enhanced screening for certain countries,” said Miles Taylor, a counselor to acting Homeland Security Secretary Elaine Duke.
However, officials have declined to say what countries would be affected or even whether it would be fewer or more than the six cited in the president’s original travel ban, adding that the decisions would be left to the White House.
Taylor noted that the Homeland Security Department concentrated in its assessment on factors such as terrorist and criminal history information each country shares with the U.S., the security of passports issued and how well each country established identity of passport-holders. The U.S. notified all countries in July of “baseline” standards they would need to meet to avoid travel restrictions.
The State Department will issue guidance to consular offices next week with information about how to implement the new restrictions, said Carl Risch, assistant secretary for consular affairs at the State Department.
“We regularly send guidance to the field and we would expect to do that next week if there’s any ambiguity about how a visa applicant is to be interviewed,” Risch said on Friday.
The current order bans entry by people from Iran, Libya, Yemen, Somalia, Sudan and Syria. It was scheduled to expire on Sunday after the Supreme Court’s ruling in June, which tailored the ban to only include those who have no “bona fide relationship” to the U.S. The original travel restrictions, which caused confusion at U.S. ports of entry and set off spontaneous protests at airports when it was unveiled in January, led to sharp criticism of the administration from corporate leaders, Bloomberg adds.
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