N. Korea, Venezuela, Chad among 8 countries on new US travel ban

TIL Desk/World/Washington/ President Donald Trump has issued a new travel ban that saw North Korea, Venezuela and Chad among a list of eight countries cited for poor security and lack of cooperation with US authorities.

Trump ordered the new restrictions yesterday to replace an expiring measure that had locked him into political and legal battles over what critics alleged was an effort to block Muslims from entry into the country since he took office in January.

“Making America Safe is my number one priority. We will not admit those into our country we cannot safely vet,” Trump said in a tweet. Sudan, one of the six majority-Muslim countries on the original travel ban, was removed from the list. Under the new restrictions, eight nations now have complete or partial blocks on travel to the United States.

Full travel bans were placed on nationals from North Korea and Chad, while the restrictions for Venezuela were limited to officials from a long list of government agencies and their families. Other countries included in the ban were Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen.

In a presidential order, Trump said the action was needed to press the countries to improve procedures for identifying their nationals and sharing information with the United States.