\n\n\n\nThe travel ban is back. It\u2019s permanent. It hits a number of America\u2019s counterterror partners. And its rationale is\u2014at least partially\u2014an official secret.
\nThe White House announced on Sunday evening that President Donald Trump has implemented strict new limitations on which people from a few troubled countries can visit America\u2013\u2013including countries that the president himself acknowledges are valuable partners to the U.S. in efforts to combat terrorism.
\nThe United States now has dramatic limitations on which nationals from seven countries\u2014Chad, Iran, Syria, Libya, North Korea, Venezuela, and Yemen\u2014can travel here. The limits are slightly different for each of those countries, and they\u2019re indefinite; unlike the first travel ban, which was only in place for a few months, this one has no stated end date.
\nThe United States has a significant military presence in some of the banned countries. The U.S. is essentially waging a proxy war in Yemen, it\u2019s at loggerheads with Iran\u2014a tension the president eagerly highlighted in his U.N. speech last week\u2014and it has Special Operations forces on the ground in Somalia, Syria, and Libya. During the Obama administration, the U.S. also had a small military presence in Chad and considered it a hub for military activities in Africa.
\nDespite the assistance these countries\u2019 governments have provided to the U.S.\u2014and despite the presence of American troops on their soil\u2014they are singled out under the ban.
\nThe proclamation specifically says the U.S. government \u201clooks forward to expanding\u201d its cooperation with Chad, Libya, and Yemen. It\u2019s pretty safe to guess that the new travel ban won\u2019t make those countries any more eager to expand their partnerships with the American government.
\nterrible news for the large somali and persian immigrant communities. absolutely inhumane
\n
yeah I’m a little curious how this affects the Persians
like, you know there’s a sizeable expat community in LA of Persians (all the ex-Ottomans really, Cedars-Sinai started out as “Cedars of Lebanon” and Levantine Jewish “Mt. Sinai” like a century ago)
And they are the most modernist secular fractions of their nation that go back and forth and America totally takes advantage of that, we know that right?
"}