By Alfred Koroma
President Bio and President Trump
The Trump administration is considering new travel restrictions that could affect Sierra Leone, placing it on an “orange list”(Sharply restricted) of 10 countries.
It is unclear as to why the travel restrictions on Sierra Leone, but speculations are that issues relating to the outcome of the 2023 elections, bad governance and the recent drug scandal, in which the government was directly involved, could be among reasons the U.S Government has placed the ban.
While a Sierra Leone Government diplomatic vehicle was impounded in neighboring Guinea loaded with cocaine, it has also refused to extradite a Dutch national, Europe’s most wanted drug criminal, who is said to be in the country.
In relation to the June, 2023 elections, the U.S government immediately placed travelling restrictions on some major stakeholders, including the Chief Electoral Commission, who managed the process, citing irregularities and other anomalies surrounding the elections.
It is also unclear whether the recent ban was in connection with earlier one placed on the country in regards to the June,2023 elections.
If implemented, citizens from Sierra Leone and the other nine nations on the Orange list, including Belarus, Eritrea, Haiti, Laos, Myanmar, Pakistan, Russia, South Sudan and Turkmenistan would face limited travel options. Only top government officials including the President, Vice President, other senior cabinet ministers, and affluent business travelers would possibly be allowed to travel to the US. But tourist and immigrant visa applicants would face stricter vetting, including mandatory in-person interviews.
The proposed list is part of a broader effort to tighten U.S. immigration policies and it includes new countries beyond those targeted in President Trump’s first-term bans, which mainly affected Muslim-majority and nonwhite nations.
In total, the citizens of 43 countries are being considered to be targeted in a new travel ban which is expected to be finalized by the US State Department.
According to a report from the New York Times, 11 countries, namely Afghanistan, Bhutan, Cuba, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela and Yemen, are on the “red” list. The citizens of those countries would be barred from entering the United States.
A separate draft “yellow” list names 22 countries, mostly African and Caribbean, which would have 60 days to address security concerns, such as poor passport controls or selling citizenship to people from banned nations. That list, New York Times reported, included Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Chad, the Republic of Congo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Gambia, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, São Tomé and Príncipe, Vanuatu and Zimbabwe
