A new report suggests that President Trump is considering an expansion of the controversial, and much-litigated, travel ban that he imposed three years ago within days after taking office.
A document outlining the plan was viewed by the Associated Press, which talked to several people familiar with the new directive.
The AP said that immigration, one of the topics that helped propel Trump to the presidency in the 2016 election, would again be a focus for the president in this election year.
Trending Now
The countries that would be added to the list were redacted on the plan that the AP saw, but the news organization noted that the current ban – which includes Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, Venezuela and North Korea – could include seven more.
Presumably, that could include Iraq, Sudan and Chad, countries that were on the original list but later removed in a lawsuit.
White House House spokesman Hogan Gidley declined to confirm the plan but released a statement to the AP.
“The Travel Ban has been very successful in protecting our Country and raising the security baseline around the world,” he said. “While there are no new announcements at this time, common-sense and national security both dictate that if a country wants to fully participate in U.S. immigration programs, they should also comply with all security and counter-terrorism measures, because we do not want to import terrorism or any other national security threat into the United States.”
An announcement is believed to happen on or around Jan. 27, the third anniversary of Trump’s original announcement of a travel ban – a move, though talked about during the 2016 campaign – came as a shock to the entire travel industry, including airlines, airports, customs agents and border patrol officials who had no idea it would be implemented so quickly.