Former President Donald Trump released a press statement on Monday urging President Joe Biden to reinstate the previous administration’s travel ban in order to combat terrorism.
“If Joe Biden wants to keep our Country safe from Radical Islamic Terrorism, he should reinstitute the foreign country Travel Ban and all of the vetting requirements on those seeking admission that go with it, along with the refugee restrictions I successfully put in place,” Trump’s statement said.
“Terrorists operate all over the world and recruit online,” the statement continued. “To keep terrorism and extremism out of our Country, we need to have smart, commonsense rules in place so we don’t repeat the many immigration mistakes made by Europe-and the USA prior to ‘Trump.'”
BREAKING: New statement from the Office of Donald J. Trump calling for Joe Biden to reinstitute his Travel Ban. pic.twitter.com/HJ4Rik4Ftn
— Benny (@bennyjohnson) April 19, 2021
During his presidency, Trump fought to establish a ban to restrict travel from countries deemed a security risk to the U.S.
His first travel ban was issued in 2017. A five-justice majority on the Supreme Court upheld certain parts of a third travel ban in 2018, following a lengthy legal battle. (RELATED: Biden To Revoke Trump’s Planned End To COVID-19 Travel Bans, Will Add South Africa)
The travel ban received criticism for being perceived by some as being a “Muslim-ban,” even though non-Muslim countries were included on the list. Despite the backlash over the ban, roughly 40,000 visa applicants who had been deemed unsafe were denied in 2018 as a result of the travel ban.
In January 2020, the Trump administration announced that they were preparing to update and expand their travel ban list, which included countries such as Chad, Syria, Iran, Libya, Yemen, Somalia, North Korea, and Venezuela.