Two African nations seem to have been singled out by the most recent immigration coverage of the Trump administration. Guests to the US from Malawi and Zambia will likely be required to pay $15,000 to enter the nation. This new program is the most recent in a sequence of harsh and selective immigration insurance policies put in place since President Donald Trump’s return to workplace.
$15,000′ visa bond’ for guests from Malawi and Zambia
The Division of State introduced Tuesday, “Starting Aug. 20, nationals of Malawi and Zambia making use of for B1, B2, enterprise and vacationer visas will likely be required to submit a bond of as much as $15,000.” The transfer is being offered as a part of a “visa bond pilot program” that can exist for 12 months and as a measure to discourage guests to the US from overstaying their visas whereas within the nation. In response to this system’s guidelines, the bond will likely be returned to guests upon their exit from the U.S.
An exclusionary coverage and a ‘legalized shakedown’
The Trump administration will doubtless add different nations to the listing of countries within the bond program. Nonetheless, critics are questioning why the 2 small African nations have been singled out to date. Malawi and Zambia’s charges of holiday makers who overstay their visas within the U.S. are 14.3% and 11.1%, respectively, that are comparatively excessive. Nonetheless, the 2 nations mixed ship only some thousand guests to the US annually, and the whole variety of visa overstays from the 2 nations in 2023 was solely 625 folks, in accordance with immigration information. For instance, over 20,000 folks from Brazil and over 40,000 from Colombia overstayed their visas.
Critics additionally say the coverage will prohibit non-wealthy folks from visiting the U.S. The Council on American-Islamic Relations known as the brand new coverage a “legalised shakedown,” including the bond program is “about weaponising immigration coverage to extort weak guests, punish disfavored nations, and switch America’s welcome mat right into a paywall.”
Trump’s marketing campaign towards immigration
The bond visa program is a part of the Trump administration’s bigger coverage of cracking down on each authorized and unauthorized immigration. The bulletins in regards to the visa program reference Government Order 14159, one among a slate of orders signed by Trump on Inauguration Day. The provocatively titled “Defending The American Individuals In opposition to Invasion” order licensed Immigration and Customs Enforcement and different businesses to crack down on unauthorized immigrants. The administration has moreover restricted authorized immigration to the US with the most recent model of a Trump journey ban; the present coverage blocks immigration to the U.S. from a dozen principally Black and/or Muslim nations.
The Trump administration seems decided to implement vital immigration restrictions within the U.S., concentrating on particular nations within the course of. Now, the residents of two small African nations are dealing with new restrictions, except they will pay 1000’s of {dollars} earlier than arriving within the nation.
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