The Trump administration will not be announcing new restrictions on certain foreign citizens traveling to the United States on Friday, the deadline President Donald Trump set for a report.
Trump signed an executive order on Jan. 20, giving the State Department until Friday, March 21, to name countries “for which vetting and screening information is so deficient as to warrant a partial or full suspension on the admission of nationals from those countries.”
When asked Friday about the president’s plans to unveil the ban, White House officials referred the Washington Examiner to State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce’s briefing that evening, where she announced the extension of the deadline.
“That deadline is, now, not today. I can’t tell you the specifics, but don’t expect that today is a day that something will have to come out,” Bruce told reporters.
“The Department of State is committed to protecting our nation and its citizens by upholding the highest standards of national security and public safety through our visa process, as laid out by Trump’s executive order, which is what initiated this dynamic,” she continued. “The visa adjudication process must ensure that U.S.-bound foreign travelers do not pose a threat to the national security and public safety of the United States. This was obviously a huge discussion on September 12, 2001, and this is an issue that Americans care about.”
The New York Times reported last week that the State Department had settled on a list of 43 countries that would see partial or complete bans on travel to the United States for its citizens.
Of that group, 11 countries were placed on the State Department’s “red” list, which would flatly bar citizens of those countries from traveling to the United States. These countries include Afghanistan, Bhutan, Cuba, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela, and Yemen.
An additional 10 countries made their way onto an “orange” list, which would see new restrictions on visas, while the remainder of the 43 will be handled on a case-by-case basis 60 days after arrival in the United States.
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You can watch Bruce’s briefing in full below.
