Trump adds North Korea in revised travel ban

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – United States President Donald Trump on Sunday announced a revised travel ban to include citizens from North Korea to the controversial list.

The new travel ban is a revision of the President’s previous two which were heavily criticized and challenged in court.

Iran, Libya, Syria, Yemen, and Somalia remain on the new list of affected countries in the new announcement by Trump while Iraq was removed earlier this summer.

Citizens from Iraq will no longer be subject to travel prohibitions after a deal was struck between Baghdad and Washington, but still face “enhanced scrutiny or vetting,” Reuters reported.

 “Making America Safe is my number one priority. We will not admit those into our country we cannot safely vet,” President Trump wrote in a tweet shortly after the new ban was declared.

Making America Safe is my number one priority. We will not admit those into our country we cannot safely vet.https://t.co/KJ886okyfC

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 24, 2017

The original travel ban, active since March, was criticized for mostly including Muslim-majority countries.

The addition of North Korea, Venezuela, and Chad broadens the restrictions from the previous ban.

“North Korea does not cooperate with the United States government in any respect and fails to satisfy all information-sharing requirements,” the proclamation said.

According to Trump, the new ban was “tougher [and] better” than the original.

Officials said the restrictions in the new ban would differ by nation based on “cooperation with American security mandates” as well as the level of threat they pose to the US.

The previous ban, imposed in March, expired on Sunday evening. It blocked entry into the US by citizens from six countries for 90 days, locking out refugees for 120 days.

Despite some federal courts blocking the ban on the grounds it was discriminatory and violated constitutional guarantees of religious liberty, the US Supreme Court allowed it to take effect in June with some restrictions.

Editing by G.H. Renaud