Pak Might be Included in Immigration Ban List: White House Official

January 30, 2017 10:51
Pak Might be Included in Immigration Ban List: White House Official

There is a chance in the future that Pakistan can be one of the countries where immigration can be banned.

A top White House official indicated on Sunday that for the first time Pakistan was under consideration to be put in that category.

“The reason we chose those seven countries was, those were the seven countries that both the Congress and the Obama administration identified as being the seven countries that were most identifiable with dangerous terrorism taking place in their country,” White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus told.

Trump has previously published a controversial executive order in which seven Muslim-majority countries immigration was banned. Those countries banned were Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan, Yemen, Syria and Somalia.

“Now, you can point to other countries that have similar problems, like Pakistan and others. Perhaps we need to take it further. But for now, immediate steps, pulling the Band-Aid off, is to do further vetting for people travelling in and out of those countries,” Priebus said.

For the first time ever the Trump Administration has publicly confirmed that Pakistan might be included in the list.

Currently, as per the executive order, visitors from countries like Pakistan and Afghanistan are subjected to a thorough examination.

Priebus said, "the executive orders were signed after a lot of planning."

Muslim Ban

“We’re not going to advertise to the world that we’re going to put a stop or at least a further vetting on travel in and out of our country from these seven places,” he said.

“Some people have suggested, that, well, maybe we should have given everyone a three-day warning. But that would just mean that a terrorist would just move up their travel plans by three days. Identifying too many people in these countries and giving them a heads-up in these countries would only potentially flag the executive order for bad order,” Priebus said.

“The President has a call with leadership in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates and other countries around the world. And I’m sure this topic may come up,” he said.

Priebus said that "Americans have to be protected first."

“These are countries that harbour and train terrorists. These are countries that we want to know who is coming and going in and out of to prevent calamities from happening in this country,” he said.

“We’re not willing to be wrong on this subject. President Trump is not willing to take chances on this subject. He was elected president in many respects because people knew that he was going to be tough on immigration from countries that harbour terrorists,” Priebus said.

“I can’t imagine too many people out there watching this right now think it’s unreasonable to ask a few more questions from someone travelling in and out of Libya and Yemen before being let loose in the United States. And that’s all this is,” he said.

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BY M. DIVYA SRI

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