By Ted Hesson
WASHINGTON, Jan 31 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump
will issue an expanded version of his travel ban on Friday, a
U.S. official said, a move that could affect thousands of
immigrants and reignite debate over whether the policy
discriminates against Muslims.
The United States will suspend the issuance of visas that
can lead to permanent residency for nationals of Eritrea,
Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar and Nigeria, acting Homeland Security
Secretary Chad Wolf said during a call with reporters on Friday.
The targeted immigrant visas are distinct from non-immigrant
visas typically issued to visitors, which will not be impacted
by the ban, Wolf said.
The U.S. government will also stop issuing "diversity visas"
to nationals of Sudan and Tanzania, Wolf said. The visas - which
Trump has criticized in the past - are available by lottery for
applicants from countries with low rates of immigration to the
United States.
Wolf said the six countries failed to meet U.S. security and
information-sharing standards, which necessitated the new
restrictions. The problems Wolf cited ranged from sub-par
passport technology to a failure to sufficiently exchange
information on terrorism suspects and criminals.
"These countries, for the most part, want to be helpful,"
Wolf said, "but for a variety of different reasons simply failed
to meet those minimum requirements that we laid out."
The original travel ban - issued during Trump's first week
in office in January 2017 - barred nearly all immigrants and
travelers from seven Muslim-majority nations. The policy was
revised amid court challenges, but the U.S. Supreme Court
ultimately upheld it in June 2018. The existing version of the ban includes the Muslim-majority
nations of Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen. North Korea
and Venezuela also face visa restrictions, but those measures
affect relatively few travelers.
Those restrictions will remain in place, Wolf said.
Trump has made his immigration crackdown a focus of his 2020
reelection campaign and is expected to press the issue in the
months ahead.
Critics contend the ban disproportionately targets
Muslim-majority nations. In 2015, during Trump's campaign for
president, he called for "a total and complete shutdown of
Muslims entering the United States."
Three of the nations included in the updated ban -
Kyrgyzstan, Nigeria and Sudan - have majority Muslim
populations. Eritrea and Tanzania have sizable Muslim
minorities.
Of the new countries hit with visa restrictions, Nigeria
sends the most immigrants to the United States. The U.S. State
Department issued approximately 7,900 immigrant visas to
Nigerians in fiscal year 2018, which began Oct. 1, 2017.
Congressman Joe Neguse, a Democrat from Colorado and son of
Eritrean refugees, told reporters on Friday that the updated ban
unfairly singled out allied African nations.
Belarus, which had been under consideration for inclusion in
the expanded travel ban, took steps to remedy deficiencies in
recent months and will not face visa restrictions, Wolf said on
Friday.