Trump administration demands action from 36 countries to avoid travel ban

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has given 36 countries, most of them in Africa, a Wednesday deadline to commit to improve vetting or face a ban on their citizens visiting the United States.

A weekend diplomatic cable sent by the State Department instructs embassies and consulates in the 36 countries to gauge their host countries’ willingness by Wednesday to improve their citizens’ travel documentation and take steps to address the status of their nationals who are in the United States illegally.

The cable, which was described to The Associated Press, asks the countries to take action to address the U.S. concerns within 60 days or risk being added to the travel ban, which now includes 12 nations. Of the 36 new countries targeted, 25 are in Africa.

State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce declined to comment on the specifics in the cable. She confirmed that the administration wanted nations to improve their own vetting processes for passport holders, accept their nationals deported from the U.S. and take other steps to ensure their citizens are not a threat to the U.S.

“We’re looking at providing a period of time, (where if countries) don’t get to that point where we can trust them and they’ve got to change the system, update it, do whatever they need to do to convince us that we can trust the process and the information they have,” she said.

The 36 countries identified in the cable are: Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Dominica, Ethiopia, Egypt, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Malawi, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, South Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Tonga, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The Washington Post first reported on the cable.