The Trump administration is considering issuing travel restrictions for the citizens of dozens of countries as part of a new ban, according to sources familiar with the matter and an internal memo seen by Reuters.
In a separate development, the US is expelling South Africa’s ambassador, US secretary of state Marco Rubio said, calling the envoy a “race-baiting politician” who hates President Donald Trump. Ebrahim Rasool must depart by March 21st, a state department spokesperson said on Saturday.
The memo on potential travel restrictions lists a total of 41 countries divided into three separate groups. The first group of 10 countries, including Afghanistan, Iran, Syria, Cuba and North Korea, among others, would be set for a full visa suspension.
In the second group, five countries – Eritrea, Haiti, Laos, Myanmar and South Sudan – would face partial suspensions that would affect tourist and student visas as well as other immigrant visas, with some exceptions.
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In the third group, a total of 26 countries including Belarus, Pakistan and Turkmenistan, among others, would be considered for a partial suspension of US visa issuance if their governments “do not make efforts to address deficiencies within 60 days”, the memo said.
The list has yet to be approved by the administration, including US secretary of state Mr Rubio and could be amended, officials told the outlet.
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The memo follows an executive order issued on January 20th that requires intensified security vetting of any foreigners seeking admission to the US to detect national security threats, and directed several cabinet members to submit a list of countries for partial or full suspension because their “vetting and screening information is so deficient”.
During the first Trump administration, in 2017, a partial ban imposed on travellers from predominantly Muslim-population nations was labelled a “Muslim ban” by Mr Trump and his aides.
Fourteen months earlier, after an Islamic State-inspired mass shooting in San Bernardino, California, Mr Trump had called for “a total and complete” shutdown of Muslims entering the US “until our country’s representatives can figure out what the hell is going on”.
A new set of restrictions, outlined in the memo, would follow pledges by the president to institute an immigration crackdown. In October 2023, Mr Trump pledged to restrict people from the Gaza Strip, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Yemen and “anywhere else that threatens our security”.
Any move to ban or restrict immigration from the list of 41 countries would come in tandem with department of homeland security efforts to deport undocumented migrants affiliated with newly identified terrorist crime networks, including Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua, El Salvador’s MS-13 and the Mexican-American 18th St.
At the same time, the Trump administration is moving to cancel immigration status and deport several foreign-born university graduates, including Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil, who led campus protests against Israel’s war in Gaza last year.
A second student who took part in protests around the university last year was arrested by federal immigration agents last week. Leqaa Kordia was arrested by officers from the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Newark. Authorities said she had overstayed a terminated visa.
The administration also revoked the visa of Ranjani Srinivasan, an Indian citizen and doctoral student at Columbia. Srinivasan opted to “self-deport” after officials said she was “involved in activities supporting Hamas”.
In a statement on Friday, the homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, said it’s a “privilege to be granted a visa to live and study in the United States of America”.
“When you advocate for violence and terrorism that privilege should be revoked, and you should not be in this country,” Ms Noem added.
Separately, Mr Rubio said on Friday that South Africa’s ambassador Mr Rasool is “no longer welcome in our great country”.
Ties have slumped since Mr Trump cut US financial aid to South Africa, citing disapproval of its land policy and its genocide case against Washington’s ally Israel at the International Court of Justice.
“Ebrahim Rasool is a race-baiting politician who hates America and hates @Potus (Trump),” Mr Rubio said in an X post about the rare barring of a nation’s top diplomat.
In statements from its presidency and international relations department, South Africa called the move regrettable but said it remained committed to building mutually beneficial relations and would address the matter via diplomatic channels.
Mr Rubio reposted an article from right-wing website Breitbart that quoted the envoy as saying that Mr Trump was leading a white supremacist movement. He must depart by March 21st, a state department spokesperson said on Saturday.
Reuters was unable to contact Mr Rasool or confirm his whereabouts.
News website Semafor reported this week that Mr Rasool has failed to secure routine meetings with state department officials and key Republican party figures since Mr Trump, a Republican, took office in January.
The US is reviewing its South Africa policy, the state separtment spokesperson added, citing the land policy, South Africa’s growing ties with countries like Russia and Iran and “aggressive positions” towards the US and allies.
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“The US/South Africa relationship has now reached its lowest point,” said Patrick Gaspard, a former US ambassador to South Africa. “There’s too much at stake to not work towards the repair of this partnership.”
Mr Rasool presented his credentials to then-president Joe Biden on January 13th, a week before Mr Trump took office, according to the embassy’s website, for a second stint in Washington.
Mr Trump has said, without citing evidence, that “South Africa is confiscating land” and that “certain classes of people” are being treated “very badly”.
South African-born billionaire Elon Musk, who is close to Mr Trump, has said white South Africans have been the victims of “racist ownership laws”.
South African president Cyril Ramaphosa signed into law a Bill in January aimed at making it easier for the state to expropriate land in the public interest, in some cases without compensating the owner.
Mr Ramaphosa has defended the policy as evening out racial disparities in ownership in the Black-majority nation and said the government had not confiscated any land.
Mr Trump has offered to resettle white South African farmers and their families as refugees. The state department is co-ordinating with the department of homeland security and has begun implementing the plan, the state department spokesperson said, adding that initial interviews were under way. – Reuters/Guardian
