Not affected are non-immigrant visas awarded to those traveling to the U.S. for a temporary stay. They include visas for tourists, those doing business or people seeking medical treatment.

Eritrea denounced US ban on immigrant visa for its citizens as “unacceptable” — Eritrea expressed “dismay at this unfriendly act” after the Trump administration included it in the latest six countries to face U.S. visa restrictions. The restrictions goes into effect starting Feb. 21.

BY TESFANEWS *

Eritrea on Saturday denounced the US President Donald Trump’s controversial ban on immigrant visas for its citizens as “unacceptable”.

Eritrea, along with Nigeria, were among six countries, four of them in Africa added to an expanded version of the U.S. visa ban announced on Friday in a presidential proclamation.

U.S. officials said the countries failed to meet U.S. security and information-sharing standards, which necessitated the new restrictions.

Under the proclamation, which will take effect on February 21, the US will suspend the issuance of visas that can lead to permanent residency for nationals of the affected countries.

Eritrean Foreign Minister Osman Saleh Mohammed, however, said on Saturday that the government saw the ban as a political move that would hurt the country’s relations with the United States.

“We find this move unacceptable,” he told Reuters news agency by telephone. “We will, however, not expel the U.S. ambassador,” he added.

The U.S. government also said it will stop issuing “diversity visas” to nationals of Sudan and Tanzania.

ERITREA: Press Statement on US Travel Ban

The US Administration issued a Press Statement on Friday, January 31st this week, putting Eritrea in the second tier of countries for which “overseas issuance of immigrant visas is suspended” for certain of “their nationals”.

The GOE has consistently opposed “automatic asylum” and other misguided measures invoked by certain countries in the past 20 years for ulterior reasons of “strategic depopulation” against Eritrea. The GOE had in fact lodged legitimate protests against previous US Administrations that followed similar policies in 2004 and 2009 respectively.

The current announcement does not, apparently, stem from these considerations. Although couched in purely technical terms, it singles out Eritrea without justification to send a negative signal. The GOE thus expresses its dismay at this unfriendly act which runs counter to the Administration’s pronounced policy of constructive engagement to redress past wrongs.

Ministry of Information
Asmara
2 February 2020

https://twitter.com/Muna_Mire/status/1223479617996120065

"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses"

As a son of Eritrean refugees, those words mean everything.

The President's travel ban on Eritrea & other African countries is reckless, cruel and wrong.

Congress must oppose it. And we will. https://t.co/e7Ws3Ga5rX

— Joe Neguse (@JoeNeguse) January 31, 2020