The homeland security chief blamed asylum backlogs on Biden-era policies and linked the expanded ban to vetting concerns and unstable foreign governments.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on Dec. 4 that the Trump administration is looking to increase the number of countries subject to the U.S. travel ban to more than 30.
The United States currently imposes full or partial suspensions of entry on nationals from 19 countries, including Afghanistan, Haiti, Iran, Cuba, Somalia, Libya, Laos, Burma (also known as Myanmar), and Sudan.
Noem said more countries will be added, but did not name any.
“I won’t be specific on the number, but it’s over 30, and the president is continuing to evaluate countries,” she said in an interview on Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle” that aired Dec. 4.
“Listen, if they don’t have a stable government there, if they don’t have a country that can sustain itself and tell us who those individuals are and help us vet them, why should we allow people from that country to come here to the United States?”
Noem blamed the Biden administration for the asylum backlog, which she said has exceeded a million cases.
She said credible applicants were unable to get through “because the Biden administration was just allowing people to come here and allowing them a free-for-all at the United States and our territories and our country, and then they weren’t vetting them and backlogging their cases.”
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) last week halted all asylum decisions following the Nov. 26 shooting of two National Guard members in Washington, which authorities say was carried out by an Afghan national who entered the United States in September 2021 through a Biden-era resettlement program.
Noem on Dec. 2 called for a “full travel ban” on countries she says are flooding the United States with criminals and welfare dependents following a meeting with President Donald Trump.
“Our forefathers built this nation on blood, sweat, and the unyielding love of freedom—not for foreign invaders to slaughter our heroes, suck dry our hard-earned tax dollars, or snatch the benefits owed to AMERICANS. WE DON’T WANT THEM. NOT ONE,” she stated on X.
Trump has said that his administration would work to pause immigration from “third-world countries” to allow for the U.S. system’s full recovery.
