The United States it tightening security on African countries that fail to comply with the U.S. minimum security standard. On Friday, January 31, 2020, U.S. President, Donald J. Trump, signed a proclamation that prohibits citizens from countries Nigeria and Eritrea, from applying for visas to immigrate to the U.S. Additionally, Sudan, was barred from participating in the diversity visa lottery, a program that awards approximately 50,000 green cards, or lawful permanent residence, each year to immigrants – many of whom emigrate from Africa.
African countries on the U.S. banned list have citizens who overstay their visas, meaning they failed to depart the U.S., at high rates compared to other countries. In the 2018 fiscal year, 24% of Eritreans on visitor visas overstayed their permits, followed by 15% of Nigerians and 12% of Sudanese.
David Lapan, Former Press Secretary for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, stated, “These are countries that don’t have great law-enforcement capabilities, they don’t have a great record-keeping, so we can’t have a lot of confidence in the information we’re getting about them.”
Liberia law-enforcement and record-keeping threatens U.S. security. It is generally known among citizens of West African countries that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Liberia is the easiest place to receive travel documents illegally. For examples, last year Foreign Affairs Passport Director, Andrew Wonplo, sold passports to the highest foreign bidder. Also, Monie Hooke Momolu with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs obtained illegal travel documents for Henry Costa, Liberia’s talk show host.
Liberia will likely see their overstay rate increase. With man Nigerian living in Liberia, the relationship between the two cultures is strong. With Nigeria now included in the U.S. travel an, the fear is that some Nigerians may seek alternate ways to enter the U.S. with the help of Liberia’s lax Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
