DILI, 18 March 2025 (TATOLI) – On Saturday (15/03), Reuters and several U.S. domestic media reported that up to 43 countries were included in the Trump administration’s proposed new travel ban.
According to internal memos received by these media outlets, Reuters reported that it saw a memo listing 41 countries, including Timor-Leste, while The New York Times released a list of 43 countries in which Timor-Leste was not included.
These two different draft lists triggered widespread discussions among Timorese communities, questioning whether Timor-Leste is indeed included in or excluded from Trump’s new travel ban.
Commenting on this, the Permanent Representative of Timor-Leste to the United Nations, Dionísio da Costa Babo Soares, said it is better to wait for the final list to confirm whether Timor-Leste is included in the travel restrictions or not.
“So far, no official list has been released by the U.S. government. Therefore, we must wait for the final list to be approved by the White House,” Babo told Tatoli on Monday.
An unnamed U.S. official said that there could be changes to the draft list that had been developed by the State Department several weeks ago, as it had yet to be approved by the Trump Administration.
Reports claimed that the Trump administration’s new travel ban proposal aimed at addressing the national security and public safety threat.
It is recalled that, on January 20, Trump’s administration issued an executive order to intensify the security vetting of any foreign nationals trying to enter the U.S.
Related News: Timor-Leste among 41 countries on Donald Trump’s travel restrictions list
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