President Trump updates travel ban adding six more countries to the list.

President Donald Trump. BBC/Reuters.

President Donald Trump has added six more countries to the travel ban list. BBC. People from Nigeria, Eritrea, Sudan, Tanzania, Kyrgyzstan and Myanmar will now no longer be eligible for certain kinds of visas, though people will be able to visit America from those countries. These countries have failed to meet security standards set by the US government and the government will work with them to try to get their standards to an acceptable level. The government will suspend residency visa for four of the countries, Nigeria, Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, and Myanmar, while people from Sudan and Tanzania will no longer be able to apply for "diversity visas". The six new countries join Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, Venezuela and North Korea on the travel ban list. 

My Comment:

I think this is a good move by President Trump. Of these countries, Nigeria, Sudan, Kyrgyzstan and Myanmar have active Islamic insurgencies. Eritrea and Tanzania are more of a mystery for me but they are close to conflict areas. Of course, the ban never had that much to do with Muslims in the first place as it always targeted countries that were either active enemies of America or countries that had major security flaws. 

Both Nigeria and Kyrgyzstan are one of the few places in the world where ISIS is still very active. Boko Haram is still killing people in Nigeria and Kyrgyzstan still has some ISIS holdouts as well. Blocking immigration from these countries ensure that we won't get sleeper cells from ISIS. 

This is also a way to ensure that these countries actually pick up the pace and fix their security problems. A couple of these countries have very little excuse for not having better security standards. Nigeria for example is one of the more modern African countries and has no excuse for not meeting out standards. 

I also want to point out that countries can earn their way off of this list. Chad was famously lifted from the ban after they started sharing intelligence with the United States and improved their visa security. The new countries on the list could easily follow in their footsteps and improve their standards as well and if they do so they will likely be dropped from the list. Unlike the other six countries still on the list, none of these countries are American enemies like Iran, Syria, Venezuela and North Korea or basket-cases of war and chaos, like Libya, Somalia and Yemen. They can earn their way out. 

This ban could have an effect on American industry. Both Nigeria and Myanmar are big sources of labor for companies that rely on such things. This travel ban will cut off supplies for those countries and force them to seek other sources for employees. If they cannot find another foreign source they will be forced to raise wages in an effort to hire more American citizens. This is a loss for them but a pretty big win for American workers if it works out in the end. I don't think this was a motivating factor for the travel ban but it will be a decent side effect. 

I have always supported these travel bans as I had seen first hand that people from many countries on the list were not who they said they were. I have no doubt that ISIS and al-Qaeda, along with other groups like Iranian sleeper cells, were using our weak immigration system to enter the country. That threat is now mostly gone due to the actions of President Trump. It's one of the reasons I voted for him in 2016 and will do so again in 2020.