Category: Foreign

PRESIDENT Donald Trump’s administration has rolled out a new rule that aims to limit “birth tourism” by women who enter the United States (U.S.) on tourist’s visas.

According to Trump, the essence of the “birth tourism” is with the intention of obtaining citizenship for their babies born on American soil.

This is coming as media reports on Wednesday indicated that the Trump administration planned to add Nigeria, Belarus, Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Sudan and Tanzania to a group of nations subject to travel restrictions.

Unlike the initial list, most of the countries don’t have majority-Muslim populations. Several of them, however, have had relatively higher rates of their citizens overstaying visas in the U.S., according to DHS data.

In the 2018 fiscal year, 24% of Eritreans on business or visitor visas overstayed their permits, along with 15% of Nigerians and 12% of people from Sudan. Those compared with a total overstay rate in the category of 1.9%.

Under the State Department regulation, which will take effect today, pregnant women applying for visitor’s visa, could be required to prove they have a specific reason for travel beyond giving birth, such as a medical necessity.

Trump, who faces re-election in November 2020, has made restricting legal and illegal immigration a focus of his campaign.

READ ALSO: Travel ban: Nigeria won’t react to speculations, says Presidency

During his presidency, he has criticised the right to citizenship for any person born in the U.S., which applies even to children born to tourists.

However, scrapping that right would require a change in the U.S. Constitution.

No U.S., law, however, bars foreign women from travelling to the U.S. to give birth, though in the past consular officers could require visitors to prove they had the financial means to pay for a medical procedure if that was the reason for the trip.

In some cases, alleged operators and customers of companies promoting “birth tourism” in the U.S. have been charged with providing false information to immigration authorities in order to conceal plans to give birth in the U.S.

A State Department official said in an emailed statement that the new rule aims to address national security risks, including criminal activity associated with the industry for birth-related trips.

However, critics are worried the new rule could lead to discrimination.

Agency Reporter

Chinese authorities have urged people to stop travelling in and out of Wuhan, the city at the centre of a new virus outbreak that has killed 17 people.

Those living in the city of 8.9 million people have also been told to avoid crowds and minimise public gatherings.

The new virus has spread from Wuhan to several Chinese provinces, as well as the US, Thailand and South Korea.

There are 440 confirmed cases, with the origin a seafood market that “conducted illegal transactions of wild animals”.

Late yesterday, the Chinese authorities confirmed the number of dead had almost doubled – from nine – in the space of a day. All fatalities so far have been in Hubei, the province around Wuhan.

Read Also: Coronavirus: Fed Govt orders screening of passengers at airports, borders

Officials in Hong Kong also reported the territory’s first two cases.

Meanwhile, in Geneva, the World Health Organisation’s emergency committee is meeting to assess the global risks posed by the virus and decide if it should be declared an international public health emergency – as happened with swine flu and Ebola.

Such a declaration, if made, could see advice issued on travel or trade restrictions.

Chinese authorities admitted the country was now at the “most critical stage” of prevention and control.

“Basically, do not go to Wuhan. And those in Wuhan please do not leave the city,” said National Health Commission vice-minister Li Bin in one of the first public briefings since the beginning of the outbreak.

From: Vincent Ikuomola, Abuja

 

The peace in diepsloot, Johannesburg has been ruffled as locals are calling on foreign nationals to leave their community.

The locals staged a protest over the killing of a police captain, it was learnt.

The protest against foreign nationals, according to Benjamin Okoli, President Nigerian Citizens Association South Africa (NICASA) followed the allegation that suspected killers of the police captain is a foreign national.

Okoli noted that the police captain was killed during a shoot out with robbers.

He however stated that the south African PolIce are working really hard bring the situation under control.

Narrating the story to The Nation Newspaper,  NICASA President said, “there is a protest in diepsloot Johannesburg. The locals are protesting and demanding that foreign nationals should leave their community. They blame the foreigners for crimes in their area.

The situation was caused because of the killing of a Police captain in the area early last week.

“The police while responding to a robbery tip off encountered the robbers and a gun fight ensued between them and the police.

“A police captain was shot and killed in the process, while the killer escaped. A manhunt for the killer of the police captain commenced, and the killer was arrested in the kruggersdorp area in Johannesburg on Tuesday.

“The community on learning the identity of the killer robber that he is a foreign national

We have advised our Citizens to be vigilant and monitor situation around their area.”

He however stressed that it was not another xenophobia ans neither was it targeted at Nigerians.

Read ALSO: Xenophobia: Nigeria, South Africa to implement ‘Early Warning Signal’ pact

“This situation is not targeted at Nigerians but foreign nationals especially those resident in the area. This is not a xenophobia attack, but an attack occasioned by the unwarranted brutal killing of a Police personnel. The community does not take the killing of their police members lightly. They consider an attack on their police as an attack on their Country especially when it is committed by a foreigner.”

While urging Nigerians in South Africa to remain law abiding and go about their lawdul business, he however said NICASA “will continue to monitor the situation as it develop”.

Okoli noted that the Consul General has been informed of the  development while also hoping  that situation does not escalate.

Agency Reporter

THE United States (U.S.) Senate has adopted ground rules for President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial, after nearly 13 hours of rancorous debate on day one.

Democratic prosecutors clashed with Trump’s lawyers over the process. Republicans rejected Democratic demands for more witnesses to be called.

The trial resumed on Wednesday with arguments by the prosecution, to be followed by the defence and questions.

Trump is the third U.S. president to face an impeachment trial.

He is charged with abuse of power and obstructing the congressional impeachment inquiry. He has denied wrongdoing and accused Democrats of trying to unseat him for political reasons.

“I’d love to go and sit in the front row and stare at their corrupt faces,” he told reporters at a hastily arranged news conference in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday. But he said his lawyers might have a problem with that.

Trump is on trial after he was impeached last month by the Democratic-led House of Representatives. But the Senate, which is controlled by his fellow Republicans, is not expected to convict and remove him from office.

The president is attending the World Economic Forum in Davos, where he again dismissed the accusations against him as “a total hoax”.

On the question of whether new witnesses would be called to the trial, he said he would leave that to senators to decide, but the White House has actively worked to block the appearance of certain officials.

Democrats have made it clear they wish to hear testimony from the former National Security Adviser, John Bolton. The Trump administration has said evidence from Bolton would pose a national security threat – a claim dismissed by Democrats as a smokescreen.

Senators have taken oaths to act as impartial jurors in a trial presided over by US Chief Justice John Roberts. House Democrats known as “impeachment managers” act as the prosecution, while Trump’s legal team acts as the defence.

Read Also: Trump threatens EU with ‘very high tariffs’ if there is no trade deal

Under the rules approved by the Republican majority after a first day of proceedings that finished close to 02:00 local time (07:00 GMT), each side will be given up to 24 hours to lay out their case in opening arguments, over three days.

Senators are barred from live tweeting and from speaking to those sitting near them while the case is being heard. No outside reading materials are allowed to be brought in.

Opening arguments began on Wednesday afternoon. After this finishes, probably early next week, senators will have a chance to ask questions. They have been given 16 hours. Then attention will return again to the key issue of new witnesses and evidence.

Democrats want to hear from key White House aides who worked closely with Trump, including acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney and Bolton. Republicans have so far blocked their attempts.

By Bolaji Ogundele, Abuja

THE Presidency has said Nigeria will need to get proper briefing before reacting to the reported travel ban plan by the United States (U.S.) government.

Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity Mallam Garba Shehu, in a terse statement on Wednesday evening, said Nigeria would not react to such diplomatic development based on just media report.

According to him, the government would take its time to watch how the said development unfolds, take a study and analysis of its expected reach and effect before giving an official reaction.

Garba said: “Yes, we have read the news that the Trump administration is planning to add a host of African, Asian and Eastern European countries to its travel restrictions list as reported by the U.S. media.

“We are not going to react to speculations. We urge you to wait for us to see what unfolds under the new policy, its scope, its reach, the implications and its consequences before we react”, he said.

Media reports on Wednesday indicated that the Trump administration planned to add Nigeria, Belarus, Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Sudan and Tanzania to a group of nations subject to travel restrictions.

Unlike the initial list, most of the new countries don’t have majority-Muslim populations. Several of them, however, have had relatively higher rates of their citizens overstaying visas in the U.S., according to DHS data.

In the 2018 fiscal year, 24% of Eritreans on business or visitor visas overstayed their permits, along with 15% of Nigerians and 12% of people from Sudan. Those compared with a total overstay rate in the category of 1.9%.

The names of the seven countries were first reported by Politico.

Read Also: US travel ban validates claims of electoral malpractice, says Atiku

The countries wouldn’t necessarily face blanket bans on travel to the U.S., but could have restrictions placed on specific types of visas, such as business or visitor visas, administration officials said.

Some countries could be banned from participating in the diversity visa lottery programme, which awards green cards to people in countries with low levels of immigration to the U.S.

Trump had called for an end to that programme, saying it allows undesirable people into the U.S., and he proposed reorienting the existing visa system toward skilled workers instead.

The officials said the list isn’t final, adding that the White House was still debating whether to include one or two of the countries.

The Department of Homeland Security didn’t respond to request for comment. The State Department declined to comment.

The administration plans to roll out its expanded travel restrictions on Monday, marking the three-year anniversary of the initial travel ban Trump signed on his seventh day in office. The move sparked controversy at the beginning of his term.

The administration has said its policy restricting travel is necessary to prevent potential acts of terrorism, as countries on the list don’t adequately vet their travellers to the U.S.

The first order, which banned travel to the U.S. by most residents of seven majority-Muslim countries, was struck down by a federal court and withdrawn. A second iteration of the ban, issued in March 2017, was also struck down by a federal judge, who said it still amounted to religious discrimination against Muslims.

A third version of the policy, issued in September 2017, was upheld by a divided Supreme Court in a 5-4 ruling in June 2018 on the grounds that federal law gives the president broad authority to suspend entry to the U.S.

Those current restrictions blocked travel by individuals from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Yemen and North Korea, and by political officials from Venezuela. The administration briefly included Chad on the ban list, but removed the country in April 2018.

Immigrant-rights groups criticised the planned expansion of the policy to new countries. “Tens of thousands of American families are already hurting and separated because of this bigoted and cruel ban. Doubling down on it won’t make any of us safer,” said Farhana Khera, president of Muslim Advocates, a nonprofit civil-rights organisation.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday warned that the United States will impose painful tariffs on imports from the European Union unless the block agrees to a trade deal.

“Europe has been very, very tough to deal with,’’ Trump told U.S. broadcaster, CNBC at the World Economic Forum summit in the Swiss town of Davos, one day after meeting European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen there.

Trump complained that EU countries have been exporting significantly more into the U.S. than the other way around.

He claimed that he had restrained himself so far because he was concluding the recent trade deal with China first.

“Look, if we don’t get something, we’ll have to take action and the action will be very high tariffs on cars and other things that come into our country,’’ Trump said.

Read Also; U.S. Senate rejects Democrats’ demand for documents in Trump impeachment trial

The president added, however, that he believes that the EU will agree to a deal in the end.

“They’re gonna make a deal because they have to,’’ he said.

The U.S. and the EU are major trading partners.

They exchanged almost $1.3 trillion worth of goods and services in 2018.

A report says reaching a trade agreement is expected to be difficult because Brussels wants to exclude its farming sector from such a deal, while Washington seeks to protect its market for public tenders.

The Trump administration already threatened the EU with 25-per-cent tariffs on cars in 2019, without imposing them.

The EU has made clear that it would retaliate in such a case.

 

(dpa/NAN)