Dec. 16 (UPI) -- President Donald Trump on Tuesday added five countries to his administration's travel ban and other entry restrictions, citing what officials called inadequate screening that posed a national security risk.
The expanded ban includes Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, South Sudan and Syria. It also imposes restrictions on people seeking entry from Laos and Sierra Leone, as well as those holding travel documents issued by the Palestinian Authority.
The proclamation comes weeks after Trump announced he would permanently pause "migration from all Third World Countries" a day after an Afghan national allegedly shot two National Guard members in Washington D.C. over the Thanksgiving weekend.
"The restrictions and limitations imposed by the proclamation are necessary to prevent the entry of foreign nationals about whom the United States lacks sufficient information to assess the risks they pose, garner cooperation from foreign governments, enforce our immigration laws and advance other important foreign policy, national security and counterterrorism objectives," officials wrote in the proclamation.
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