Four countries will face sanctions from the US Government after they refused to accept their deported nationals from the US. The citizens of the four countries were deported as part of the crackdown on illegal immigrants ordered by President Donald Trump's administration.
The three African and one Asian country- Eritrea, Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Cambodia respectively, will face the sanctions after they refused to cooperate with US immigration officials, according to the US Department of Homeland Security.
The planned sanctions have been in the pipeline since last month, but the specifics have remained unknown until now.
Planned sanctions
At the time of the announcement a month ago, it had been reported that only government officials from the four countries would be slapped with a visa ban. But details that emerged on Wednesday from DHS revealed that the raft of measures would be more far-reaching than initially expected.
In a statement, Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Elaine Duke made it clear that International Law obligates that countries should accept their nationals deported from the US. But so far, the four countries had failed in that responsibility.
Visa ban
For Eritrea, a country with a population of 5 million, the US government will stop issuing all category B visas to its citizens. These will include business and tourist visas.
Guinea which has a 12.6 million population will be denied category B visas for government officials and their families. Also, no student or cultural exchange visas will be issued to citizens from the West- African nation.
In Sierra Leone, another country in West-Africa with a population of 6.4 million people, business and tourism visas will not be issued to officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or Immigration officials.
The only Asian country to be affected by the new sanctions is Cambodia with a population of 15.7 million. Business and travel visas will not be issued to top government officials and their families.
Implications
According to ICE Director Thomas Homan, the refusal of these countries to take in their citizens was harmful to America as the deportees, some with criminal records, had to be released back into the general US population.
The US hopes the sanctions will force the affected countries to cooperate in the future as the government continues its efforts to remove criminal elements from its population.
