(Picture: Getty)
The United States has announced they are freezing visas from 75 countries to prevent ‘immigrants extracting wealth from the American people’.
A State Department memo directs consular officers to refuse visas under existing law while the department ‘reassesses screening and vetting’ procedures.
According to the document, the pause will begin on January 21 and last until the department conducts a ‘reassessment of immigrant visa processing’.
A Homeland Security spokesman posted on X: ‘The State Department will pause immigrant visa processing from 75 countries whose migrants take welfare from the American people at unacceptable rates. The freeze will remain active until the U.S. can ensure that new immigrants will not extract wealth from the American people.
‘The pause impacts dozens of countries – including Somalia, Haiti, Iran, and Eritrea – whose immigrants often become public charges on the United States upon arrival. We are working to ensure the generosity of the American people will no longer be abused.
‘The Trump Administration will always put America First.’
The full list of countries banned from entering the US
Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Azerbaijan
Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belize, Bhutan, Bosnia, Brazil, Burma
Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Colombia, Cote d’Ivoire, Cuba
Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dominica
Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia
Fiji
Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea
Haiti
Iran, Iraq
Jamaica, Jordan
Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan
Laos, Lebanon, Liberia, Libya
Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco
Nepal, Nicaragua, Nigeria
Pakistan
Republic of the Congo, Russia, Rwanda
Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria
Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Tunisia
Uganda, Uruguay, Uzbekistan
Yemen
(Picture: Getty Images)
It came as both the UK and US have withdrawn some military personnel from an airbase in the Middle East as tensions in Iran boil over.
Donald Trump orders that personnel at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar should depart later today after Tehran issued warnings that it would target US bases in the region.
Some UK personnel are now also being withdrawn, The I Paper reported.
Al Udeid, the largest US military installation in the Middle East, houses around 10,000 troops and serves as headquarters for US Central Command.
It comes as Trump’s national security team have been weighing a range of potential responses against Iran after its regime launched a bloody crackdown on protesters.
Demonstrations erupted from citizens across Iran, including in the capital Tehran, at the end of last month after inflation skyrocketed in the country, meaning people couldn’t afford basic goods such as cooking oil.
Citizens have since faced power blackouts, arrests and violence in by Iranian security forces. More than 2,000 peaceful protesters have been killed over the last few weeks.
