Featured Image Credit: Getty Images/JIM WATSON
Topics: Donald Trump, Immigration, Travel, US News
Niamh Shackleton
Topics: Donald Trump, Immigration, Travel, US News
Kristi Noem has made a brutal suggestion to Trump regarding immigration as the POTUS gears up to address the nation today (2 December).
Trump will address Americans at 2pm ET from the White House and is expected to cover several different topics.
One topic that people speculate will be brought up is Venezuela, after the president recently declared the airspace above around the country was 'closed'.
He tweeted on November 29: "To all Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers, please consider THE AIRSPACE ABOVE AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA TO BE CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY. Thank you for your attention to this matter! PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP."
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Elsewhere, it's likely that immigration will be high up on Trump's agenda following last week's shooting in Washington DC. The attack is said to have been carried out by an Afghan national, sparking the president to make a flurry of major changes to immigration in the US — one example being US Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS) halting requests from people wanting to come to America from Afghanistan.
But the United States Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem wants this to be taken a step further and suggested America should bring in a 'full travel ban'.
She tweeted yesterday (December 1): "I just met with the President. I am recommending a full travel ban on every damn country that's been flooding our nation with killers, leeches, and entitlement junkies.
"Our forefathers built this nation on blood, sweat, and the unyielding love of freedom—not for foreign invaders to slaughter our heroes, suck dry our hard-earned tax dollars, or snatch the benefits owed to AMERICANS.
"WE DON'T WANT THEM. NOT ONE."
It's not yet clear which countries Noem wants to impose the ban on or when said ban would come into force. However, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) told The Guardian that it will be announcing the list 'soon'.
Reportedly, Trump has endorsed Noem's proposal, according to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
"Several months ago [Trump] announced a travel ban on 19 third-world and failed state countries around the world," Leavitt said in a press conference yesterday.
"Secretary Noem announced tonight she is recommending that travel ban widen and cover more countries around the globe."
She went on: "Coming to the US is a privilege, it is not a right. If you abuse that privilege, and if you don’t align with the values of the US, and you don’t respect our country, our culture, our laws, and our people you are not welcome here."