Washington,
\nThe United States announced on Tuesday that it was lifting its ban on refugees from 11 \u201chigh-risk\u201d countries, but said those seeking to enter the US would come under much tougher scrutiny than in the past.<\/p>\n
Applicants from 11 countries, unnamed but understood to include 10 Muslim-majority nations plus North Korea, will face tougher \u201crisk-based\u201d assessments to be accepted.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s critically important that we know who is entering the United States,\u201d said Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese additional security measures will make it harder for bad actors to exploit our refugee programme, and they will ensure we take a more risk-based approach to protecting the homeland.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 11 countries, hit with a ban in October in the Trump administration\u2019s revised refugee policy, have not been identified officially.<\/p>\n
But refugee groups say they comprise Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Mali, North Korea, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.<\/p>\n
Speaking anonymously, a senior administration official told journalists that the policy of enhanced security assessments for the 11 countries was not designed to target Muslims.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur admissions have nothing to do with religion,\u201d the official said, adding that there is \u201cnothing especially novel\u201d about tougher screening for countries deemed to have a higher level of risk.<\/p>\n
Donald Trump has pursued a much tougher stance on immigrants and refugees from all countries since becoming president one year ago.<\/p>\n
His predecessor Barack Obama set refugee admission in fiscal 2017, which began on October 2016, at 1,10,000.<\/p>\n
When Trump took office a year ago, he slashed that to 53,000, a number that was cut again to a maximum of 45,000 in fiscal 2018.<\/p>\n
But refugee arrivals this year could come in significantly lower than that, due to the backlog from the 120-day halt and a slowdown in processing because of generally tougher applicant reviews.<\/p>\n
DHS would not explain what the tougher vetting measures for the 11 countries would include.<\/p>\n
But all applicants are being asked to supply more detailed histories and evidence of their past activities, and many have to allow access to personal electronics and social media accounts.<\/p>\n
The move comes as Trump presses for a sharp turn in overall US immigration policy that critics say will result in a 50 per cent cut in arrivals each year and bias admissions away from African, Asian and Muslim countries.<\/p>\n
Last week, Trump proposed to end the 27-year-old \u201cgreen card lottery\u201d programme that aims to diversify the source of immigrants, leading to an upturn in those from Middle Eastern and African countries.<\/p>\n
He also proposed to tightly limit the family members who can join immigrants to only spouses and younger children.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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