The United States President, Mr Donald Trump, has clarified that Nigeria and other countries affected by the new travel ban were informed in March, 2019.
This was contained in his proclamation published on the White House website.
In the new rule, citizens from Nigeria, Eritrea, Sudan, Tanzania, Kyrgyzstan and Myanmar will not get visas that can lead to permanent residency.
“These countries, for the most part, want to be helpful but for a variety of different reasons simply failed to meet those minimum requirements that we laid out,” acting Homeland Security Secretary, Chad Wolf said last Friday.
In his proclamation, Trump said: “The process began on March 11, 2019, when the United States Government formally notified all foreign governments (except for Iran, Syria, and North Korea) about the refined performance metrics for the identity-management and information-sharing criteria.
“After collecting information from foreign governments, multilateral organizations, United States Embassies, federal law enforcement agencies, and the Intelligence Community, multiple subject matter experts reviewed each country’s data and measured its identity-management and information-sharing practices against the criteria.
“DHS then applied the data to an algorithm it developed to consistently assess each country’s compliance with the criteria. DHS identified the worst-performing countries for further interagency review and for an assessment of the potential impact of visa restrictions.
“In addition, the United States Government, led by the Department of State, continued or increased engagements with many countries about those countries’ deficiencies.
“A number of foreign governments sent senior officials to Washington, D.C., to discuss those issues, explore potential solutions, and convey views about obstacles to improving performance.
“As a result of this engagement, one country made sufficient improvements in its information-sharing and identity-management practices and was removed from consideration for travel restrictions.
“Since the Acting Secretary of Homeland Security issued his report on September 13, 2019, the Secretary of State, consistent with section 4(b) of Proclamation 9645, has continued to engage many foreign governments regarding the deficiencies identified in DHS’s report.
“Based on these engagements, in January, 2020, those senior officials recommended that I maintain the entry restrictions adopted in Proclamation 9645 (as modified by Proclamation 9723), and that I exercise my authority under section 212(f) of the INA to suspend entry into the United States for nationals of six new countries — Burma (Myanmar), Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Nigeria, Sudan, and Tanzania — until those countries address their identified deficiencies.”