{"id":22492,"date":"2020-02-10T13:19:58","date_gmt":"2020-02-10T18:19:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/?p=22492"},"modified":"2020-02-10T13:20:02","modified_gmt":"2020-02-10T18:20:02","slug":"travel-ban-visa-restrictions-trump-immigrationreform-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/2020\/02\/10\/travel-ban-visa-restrictions-trump-immigrationreform-com\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Blocks Immigrant Visas, But Leaves the Door Open for Mischief"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Citing heightened security risks, the U.S. is halting immigrant visas<\/a> for six countries: Nigeria, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Eritrea, Sudan and Tanzania. The new restrictions take effect February 22.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt’s a serious step, which should be construed as recognition of exactly how poor those countries’ policies and practices are with regard to safe, readable and counterfeit-resistant travel documents,\u201d noted Dan Cadman of the Center for Immigration Studies<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt also suggests that\nthey do little or nothing to aid the United States in the identification of\ntheir own nationals, which is critical if our federal immigration and consular\nofficials are to engage in the kind of robust vetting of visa applicants we\nhave a right to expect.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n All of the countries\nexcept for Kyrgyzstan\nhave been dinged by federal immigration officials forrefusing to accept the return of individuals ordered removed for\nviolation of U.S. laws, or for delaying the required repatriation documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nigeria is the largest nation affected by the order. As of 2017, some 348,000 Nigerian immigrants lived in the U.S., making it the top birthplace among African immigrants here. Nigeria also had the highest number of visa overstays\u00a0<\/a>of any African country in 2018, as well as one of the highest rates of visa overstays of any country worldwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n