Exclusive - U.S. asks nations to provide more traveller data or face sanctions

By Arshad Mohammed and Mica Rosenberg

 

People wait at the arrival hall at Terminal 4 of JFK airport after U.S. President Donald Trump's limited travel ban was approved by the U.S. Supreme Court, in New York City, U.S., June 29, 2017. REUTERS/Joe Penney

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department will require all nations to provide extensive data to help it vet visa applicants and determine whether a traveller poses a terrorist threat, according to a cable obtained by Reuters.

 

Countries that fail to comply with the new protocols or take steps to do so within 50 days could face travel sanctions.

 

The cable, sent to all U.S. diplomatic posts on Wednesday, is a summary of a worldwide review of vetting procedures that was required under U.S. President Donald Trump’s revised March 6 executive order that temporarily banned U.S. travel by most citizens from six predominantly Muslim countries.

 

The memo lays out a series of standards the United States will require of other countries, including that they issue, or have active plans to issue, electronic passports and regularly report lost and stolen passports to INTERPOL.

 

It also directs nations to provide "any other identity information" requested by Washington for U.S. visa applicants, including biometric or biographic details.

 

The cable sets out requirements for countries to provide data on individuals it knows or has grounds to believe are terrorists as well as criminal record information.

 

Further, countries are asked not to block the transfer of information about U.S.-bound travellers to the U.S. government and not to designate people for travel watchlists based solely on their political or religious beliefs.

 

"This is the first time that the U.S. Government is setting standards for the information that is required from all countries specifically in support of immigration and traveller vetting," the cable said.

 

The cable can be read here: (http://reut.rs/2untHTl).

 

The new requirements are the latest in a series of steps the Trump administration says it is taking to better protect the United States from terrorist attack.

 

However, former officials said much of the information sought is routinely shared between countries, including examples of passports and additional details about particular travellers that may present security concerns.

 

Some U.S. allies may worry about privacy protections if Washington is seen as seeking information beyond what is already shared, said John Sandweg, a former senior Homeland Security Department official now with the firm Frontier Solutions.

 

"I don’t think you can ignore the political aspects of the unpopularity of the current administration. That puts political pressure to stand up to the administration," he said.

 

The cable lays out risk factors the U.S. government will consider when evaluating a country. Some of these are controversial and could be difficult for countries to prove to U.S. satisfaction, including ensuring "that they are not and do not have the potential to become a terrorist safe haven."

 

Countries are also expected to agree to take back citizens ordered removed from the United States.

 

If they do not provide the information requested, or come up with an adequate plan to, countries could end up on a list to be submitted to Trump for possible sanction, including barring "categories" of their citizens from entering the United States.

 

The real worries for countries may not come until the results of this review are known, said Leon Rodriguez, the former director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

 

"Once they start making decisions I think that is where there is going to be a lot of anxiety," he said, saying delays in visa processing for nations that do not pose much of a threat could start to hurt "ordinary business and personal travel."

 

The most controversial of Trump's immigration-related moves are two executive orders, challenged in federal court, which impose a temporary ban on travel to the United States for most citizens from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen.

 

While the orders were initially blocked from being enforced, the Supreme Court on June 26 allowed the ban to go into effect for people from the six nations with no strong ties to the United States.

 

The cable requires countries to act quickly, but stressed that the United States would work with foreign nations to assess if they meet the standards and, if not, to come up with a plan to help them do so.

 

The cable asks that U.S. diplomats "underscore that while it is not our goal to impose a ban on immigration benefits, including visas, for citizens of any country, these standards are designed to mitigate risk, and failure to make progress could lead to security measures by the USG, including a presidential proclamation that would prohibit the entry of certain categories of foreign nationals of non-compliant countries."

 

The cable says the U.S. government has made a preliminary determination that some countries do not meet the new standards and that others are "at risk" of not meeting them. It does not name these, listing them in a separate, classified cable.

 

The State Department declined comment on the cable, saying it would not discuss internal communications.

 

"The U.S. government’s national security screening and vetting procedures for visitors are constantly reviewed and refined to improve security and more effectively identify individuals who could pose a threat to the United States," said a U.S. State Department official on condition of anonymity.

 

(Additional reporting by Julia Ainsley and Andrew Chung; Editing by Sue Horton, Bernadette Baum and David Gregorio)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-07-14

Wow Nice to wake up in the morning to some good news. Things are starting to get on order. Do what must be done and try to preserve some quality of life on North american shores.

Way too many foreign tourists coming into the country trashing the place. In some parts of New York City you have to wade through mountains of Euros just to get anywhere. Fortunately, Trump has already helped foreign tourism decline and with it, all that nasty foreign currency.

that's the boss of the world talking. you better listen. we Americans have to so..... so you have to too.

someday we'll vote to revoke our permanent veto...

then we can conjure up our own Currency From Nothing.... and lots of aircraft carriers. blue ones. 

nuclear.

we would be able to buy them as scrap.... from these very same ^*%@*%&s. 









 


 

Edited July 14, 20179 yr by maewang99

Complete nonsense from the Us authorities- instead of concentrating on those nationalities that may sponsor terrorism- they are in essence making it harder for everyone to enter the US. A terrible policy with terrible results. Donald Trump- making America worse for everyone.

5 hours ago, lovelomsak said:

Wow Nice to wake up in the morning to some good news. Things are starting to get on order. Do what must be done and try to preserve some quality of life on North american shores.

Tell your darling what must be done and try to preserve some quality of life on North american shores:

• buy more guns to preserve some quality of life on North Americans

 

 

It's not the messenger that's a terrorist threat to the US and other Western countries but the message.

That won't get stopped by Trump's extreme vetting.

A sure way to depress general tourism.

Who in their right mind (except right wingers) would want to visit a nation run by such an overblown fascistic clown? 

Everyone is for sensible measures to screen people well, but this new policy comes off as so incredibly UGLY American, obnoxious, arrogant, heavy handed. 

 

10 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

A sure way to depress general tourism.

hilarious…..someone who doesn't even live in the states worried about tourism

 

the upside: maybe a little law and order.

Edited July 14, 20179 yr by JHolmesJr

some countries just wont be able to do this

1 minute ago, JHolmesJr said:

hilarious…..someone who doesn't even live in the states worried about tourism

 

the upside: maybe a little law and order.

Clearly where he lives is relevant to the validity of his observation. But I've forgotten how that works exactly. Can you explain it to me?

Yes, mass tourism brings mass lawlessness to the USA.  

And discouraging it is a good thing because it will cut down on the USA's massive balance of trade surplus.

36 minutes ago, ilostmypassword said:

Clearly where he lives is relevant to the validity of his observation. But I've forgotten how that works exactly. Can you explain it to me?

Yes, mass tourism brings mass lawlessness to the USA.  

And discouraging it is a good thing because it will cut down on the USA's massive balance of trade surplus.

we just want to be more discerning about who we let into our country.

1 hour ago, JHolmesJr said:

hilarious…..someone who doesn't even live in the states worried about tourism

 

the upside: maybe a little law and order.

 

you ain't going to get that law & order because all the crime, robberies, shootings etc are committed by US born citizens

5 minutes ago, sgracer said:

 

you ain't going to get that law & order because all the crime, robberies, shootings etc are committed by US born citizens

as I said…..maybe……all nations need to be more discerning who they let in…..if the germans and scandinavians don't care thats their problem.

1 hour ago, JHolmesJr said:

we just want to be more discerning about who we let into our country.

Since you seem to believe this will reduce crime maybe you can link to some figure that show how much crime is being committed by persons coming into the US legally so we get an idea how this brilliant effort will make the US a safer place?

Because it these new requirements are just more red tape (you know, one of the things the man-child promised to reduce) then it's no more than a....nothing burger, right?

4 hours ago, JHolmesJr said:

hilarious…..someone who doesn't even live in the states worried about tourism

 

the upside: maybe a little law and order.

Please stop trolling.  People are welcome to comment REGARDLESS of where they live.   Many people commenting on this thread may be subject to these rules.  

 

The rule applies mainly to making sure that countries provide up-to-date passports that can't easily be copied and that information that may be known is supplied before entering the US.   For the average tourist from many countries it will not affect them.   It may leave them a little nervous and it may result in a different destination of choice.   

 

I won't speculate on if it is an over-reaction, but terrorists do not just come from specific ME/African countries.  

 

Much of the information on passengers is supplied either before or at the time a person boards a flight.  

 

 

10 hours ago, Jingthing said:

A sure way to depress general tourism.

Who in their right mind (except right wingers) would want to visit a nation run by such an overblown fascistic clown? 

Everyone is for sensible measures to screen people well, but this new policy comes off as so incredibly UGLY American, obnoxious, arrogant, heavy handed. 

 

LOL.   Yeah.   The US is having such a BIG problem with both tourism AND immigration...

 

Belly up to the bar and have another...   'Just more of the endless anti-Trump nattering.

 

It's a vetting policy for visa-requesters.  Nothing more, and certainly well within ANY country's sovereign discretion to require, esp. in the age of terror in which we have to live.  If I can wait in lines at the airport to have my person and my luggage searched, and have my emails & online activities recorded & monitored, then these visa requesters can enjoy a little scrutiny, too. 

 

 

 

 

 

On 14/07/2017 at 11:50 AM, Thaidream said:

Complete nonsense from the Us authorities- instead of concentrating on those nationalities that may sponsor terrorism- they are in essence making it harder for everyone to enter the US. A terrible policy with terrible results. Donald Trump- making America worse for everyone.

While I agree with you totally on Trumps effect on America, I note that the OP states, " The cable, sent to all U.S. diplomatic posts on Wednesday, is a summary of a worldwide review of vetting procedures that was required under U.S. President Donald Trump’s revised March 6 executive order that temporarily banned U.S. travel by most citizens from six predominantly Muslim countries. "

That to my mind says it is exactly the same directive as the ones the courts blocked. Now by expanding the net much wider it is seen as less discriminatory, the travel ban is in place, not only in those six places, but 40 odd more too. Keep everyone out! Bannons idea probably.

14 hours ago, Scott said:

Please stop trolling.  People are welcome to comment REGARDLESS of where they live.   Many people commenting on this thread may be subject to these rules.  

 

The rule applies mainly to making sure that countries provide up-to-date passports that can't easily be copied and that information that may be known is supplied before entering the US.   For the average tourist from many countries it will not affect them.   It may leave them a little nervous and it may result in a different destination of choice.   

 

I won't speculate on if it is an over-reaction, but terrorists do not just come from specific ME/African countries.  

 

Much of the information on passengers is supplied either before or at the time a person boards a flight.  

 

 

In general I can agree. But, but ... overreaction without any doubt.

 

I'll never have a Facebook account. Imagine; i would fly to the USA. Stubborn question at the US Immi: Why don't you have a such an account? We cannot believe you; go home! And there are more examples of these CIA-like "controlling" questions.

 

What would you say if you and all your countrymen should have to do the same as all non-US citizens when entering any other country in the world? Opening very private secrets with the danger of being abused (often proven).

 

BTW, what would you say, if all immigration in the world would ask every US people if you have a gun at home  (in the USA)?  And by my own experience, I can confirm that this question would be very useful.

Edited July 15, 20179 yr by puck2

19 hours ago, Jingthing said:

A sure way to depress general tourism.

Who in their right mind (except right wingers) would want to visit a nation run by such an overblown fascistic clown? 

Everyone is for sensible measures to screen people well, but this new policy comes off as so incredibly UGLY American, obnoxious, arrogant, heavy handed. 

 

I would think that those from other western countries would be delighted that these otherwise US tourists will be coming to their countries instead. I don't like trump, but this is one issue that I agree with him on. Good people with good records will have no problem going to the US when this is resolved.