Washington, Dec. 16 (EFE).- U.S. President Donald Trump expanded this Tuesday the list of countries subject to a total travel ban, which now includes seven new nations, including Syria, as well as individuals with documents from the Palestinian National Authority.
The head of state made the decision following an attack in November by an Afghan asylum seeker on two members of the National Guard in Washington, in which one of them lost his life.
In an executive order, Trump justified the measure on national security grounds and ordered to completely restrict entry to the United States for citizens of Burkina Faso, Laos, Mali, Niger, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, and Syria.
The provision also bars entry to individuals who use travel documents issued or endorsed by the Palestinian National Authority.
The Trump Administration had already denied visas to Palestinian officials who were scheduled to attend the UN General Assembly in September.
Similarly, the president imposed partial restrictions on citizens of 15 other countries: Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Ivory Coast, Dominica, Gabon, Gambia, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Tonga, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Last June, Trump had already decreed a total ban for nationals of 12 countries that remain on the list: Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen.
Partial restrictions previously imposed on Burundi, Cuba, Togo, and Venezuela are also maintained.
With the expansion, a total of 19 countries are subject to a total travel ban to the United States, in addition to the Palestinian National Authority, while another 19 face partial restrictions.
«The restrictions and limitations imposed by this proclamation are, in my judgment, necessary to prevent the entry or admission of foreign nationals about whom the Government of the United States lacks sufficient information to assess the risks they pose to the country,» states Trump's order.
The alleged attacker on the national guard posts, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan who arrived in the U.S. as an asylum seeker in 2021 after cooperating with the CIA in Afghanistan, pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.
