The United States has added five Arab and African countries to its travel ban list amid escalating Islamophobic rhetoric by right-wing politicians.
US President Donald Trump has added five countries, including Palestine and Syria, to the list of countries whose citizens are banned from entering the US.
The White House announced an expansion of immigration bans on Tuesday in an effort to crack down on immigration.
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Tuesday’s order imposed travel bans on six new countries, in addition to the 12 countries originally announced in June: Palestine, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, South Sudan and Syria.
The statute did not name Palestine, which the U.S. government does not recognize as a state, nor did it refer to it as occupied Palestinian territory.
Instead, it describes the Palestinian category as “Palestinian Authority documents” and refers to Palestinians as “individuals seeking to travel on travel documents issued or approved by the PA.”
The decision comes weeks after President Trump declared a “permanent suspension” of immigration from what he called “all Third World countries” after two National Guard soldiers were shot in Washington, D.C.
“Several U.S.-designated terrorist organizations are active and killing U.S. citizens in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and recent wars in these areas have likely compromised screening and testing capabilities,” the White House said.
“Given these factors and the weak or non-existent control of these areas by the PA, individuals seeking to travel on travel documents issued or approved by the PA will not be properly screened and approved for entry into the United States at this time.”
Democratic Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, who is of Palestinian descent, slammed the ban, accusing President Trump and his aide Stephen Miller of pushing to change the country’s demographics.
“The current administration’s racist brutality knows no bounds, as it extends its travel ban to more African and Muslim-majority countries, including Palestinians fleeing genocide,” he said in a social media post.
The move to ban Palestinians from entering the United States comes as Israel continues to carry out deadly daily attacks in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank, where Israeli settlers have killed at least two American citizens this year.
Meanwhile, the entry ban on Syrians coincided with improved relations between Washington and Damascus after Syrian President Ahmed al-Shalah visited the White House in November.
“While Syria is working closely with the United States to address its security challenges, it still lacks an adequate central authority to issue passports and civil documents, and does not have appropriate vetting and vetting measures in place,” the White House said.
U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard on Thursday praised President Trump’s immigration restrictions, citing the mass shooting that killed 15 people at a Jewish festival in Australia.
“Islamists and Islamism are the greatest threat to freedom, security, and prosperity in the United States and around the world. Perhaps it’s too late for Europe, and perhaps Australia,” she wrote to X.
“It’s never too late for the United States of America, but it will be soon. Thankfully, President Trump has prioritized securing our borders, deporting known and suspected terrorists, and preventing mass unvetted immigration that endangers the American people.”
Trump’s Republican allies have stepped up their Islamophobic rhetoric and called for a ban on Muslims entering the country.
On Sunday, Sen. Tommy Tuberville called Islam a “cult” and baselessly accused Muslims of seeking to “conquer” the West.
“Stop worrying about offending the pearl clutchers,” he wrote in a social media post. “We have to bring them home now or we will become a united American caliphate.”
When Trump first ran for president in 2015, he called for a complete ban on Muslims entering the United States, and at the start of his first term he imposed a travel ban on several Muslim-majority countries.
