WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said that the U.S. Government is planning to widen the travel ban that President Donald Trump announced on 19 countries to more than 30.
Noem was responding to a question, in an interview with Fox News on Thursday, if she can confirm whether the Trump administration would expand the number of countries on the blacklist to 32.
'I won't be specific on the number, but it's over 30, and the president is continuing to evaluate countries,' she said during 'The Ingraham Angle' talk show.
In a proclamation he signed in June, Trump had banned citizens from a dozen countries from entering the United States and restricting travelers from seven more, citing national security concerns.
The measure, as a follow-up to an immigration crackdown he launched at the onset of his second term in January, was needed to protect against 'foreign terrorists' and other security threats, according to Trump.
Noem did not name the potential countries to be targeted but said the administration was assessing if they are able to share information about their citizens to the U.S. Government.
'If they don't have a stable government there, if they don't have a country that can sustain itself and tell us who those individuals are and help us vet them, why should we allow people from that country to come here to the United States?'
In the wake of the shooting of two National Guard service members in Washington, D.C., by an Afghan national last week, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said that it issued new guidance allowing for negative, country-specific factors to be considered when vetting immigrants from 19 high-risk countries.
It did not specify the countries that are targeted by the guidance.
BBC reported that the countries of origin of green card holders who will be subject to re-examination include Afghanistan, Cuba, Haiti, Iran, Somalia, Venezuela, Myanmar, Chad, Republic of Congo and Libya.
Following the incident, President Trump said his administration will 'permanently pause migration from all Third World Countries.'
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