According to the Department of Homeland Security, the US is planning to implement stricter travel restrictions on countries whose nationals have a high track record for overstaying illegally even after expiry of their valid Business or Tourist visas.
Reducing the overstays is now being looked as a top priority by the US administration, Hogan Gidley, White House spokesman has reiterated this in a statement to the Wall Street Journal.
President Trump was reportedly angry with the way the US department of Homeland was handling the influx of migrants into the US from other countries. The recent US-Mexico border crisis was a result of Trump’s relentless efforts to stop migrants from Mexico entering the US. According to africanews.com the US President hasn’t given much thought over addressing the problem of migrants who overstay their visa illegally.
Generally it is the African countries that make up for the majority of migrants who overstay their visas in the US. The countries of interest here are 7 African countries: Chad, Burkina Faso, Djibouti, Eritrea, Liberia, Somalia and South Sudan, these are known to have the highest rates of overstaying temporary visas.
Of late, the Trump’s administration has been adopting a tough stance toward the African countries- a travel ban was imposed recently on Muslim countries like Sudan, Somalia and Libya, this month the US slapped a visa ban on the prosecutor of an International Criminal Court (ICC), Fatou Bensoda who happens to be an African.
According to a 2006 Report by the Phew Research Center an estimated 45% of the undocumented population entered the country with a valid visa but did not leave after their temporary visas expired and a total of 11 million undocumented immigrants live in the US.
The US Homeland Security Department has recorded 701,900 overstays in the fiscal year 2017, which accounts for just 1.3% of the total short-term US visitors in that year.
