On December 16, US President Donald Trump announced an important executive decree to expand the scale of border control, thereby officially preventing citizens from 7 countries from entering the US starting from January 1.
According to the announcement from the US, the list of countries subject to the comprehensive ban this time includes Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, South Sudan and Syria, along with those using the passport issued by the Palestinian government. In addition, a Southeast Asian country and Sierra Leone have also been raised from the previous partial restrictions to a complete ban on entry.
The decision to include Syria in the comprehensive ban list is considered by observers to be a surprising policy shift of the Trump administration.
In November, the US President made warm diplomatic moves and declared support for new Syrian leader Ahmed Al Sharaa in his efforts to rebuild the country. However, bilateral relations quickly froze after a serious attack that killed two US soldiers and one interpreter in Syria recently.
Explaining the tough decision, the White House said that despite Syria's efforts to stabilize the situation, the country has yet to establish a central management agency capable of controlling the identity and issuing passports according to international standards.
The US government is concerned that loopholes in the security sharing process and the high rate of citizens with expired visas from these countries will directly threaten US domestic security.
The scope of impact of this decree is not only limited to the comprehensive ban but also extended to partial restrictions on 15 other countries.
Among them is Nigeria, a country under close US scrutiny due to concerns related to religious freedom and the protection of the Christian community. The Nigeran government has spoken out against the claims and said the claims do not accurately reflect the complex security situation in the locality.
The strong border tightening move is seen as a concretization of Mr Trump's security commitments following the shocking shooting in the capital Washington D.C last month. The incident of an Indonesian citizen shooting at a member of the National Guard has put a lot of pressure on the government to review the entire process of receiving foreigners.
President Trump has previously said he will temporarily stop receiving immigrants from areas that the US says do not meet security standards to address potential terrorist risks.
Thus, to date, a total of 39 countries have been completely or partially banned from entering the US.
