Just a week after placing travel restrictions on seven African nations, the Trump administration is now considering visa bans and additional travel limitations on citizens of Nigeria and 24 other African countries, according to a report by The Washington Post.
A memo, reportedly signed by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, was sent to American diplomats in the affected nations on Saturday. In total, 36 countries—25 in Africa and 11 outside the continent are being reviewed for possible sanctions.
The African countries named include Nigeria, Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Malawi, Mauritania, Niger, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
The 11 non-African countries listed are Antigua and Barbuda, Bhutan, Cambodia, Dominica, Kyrgyzstan, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Syria, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu.
This move signals a widening of the Trump administration’s tough stance on immigration. The memo outlines several reasons for the proposed restrictions, including some countries’ failure to maintain functioning ID systems, lack of cooperation in identity verification, widespread fraud, high visa overstay rates, and concerns over individuals engaging in anti-American or antisem+tic behavior.
The memo also criticized nations that sell citizenship without residency requirements and called on governments to take back deported third-country nationals or sign “safe third country” agreements as potential solutions.
Affected countries have been given 60 days to meet specific benchmarks. Additionally, they must submit an initial action plan by 8 a.m. on Wednesday to avoid the potential visa bans.
