Trump confirms plans to expand travel ban

President Trump on Tuesday confirmed he plans to expand his controversial travel ban that bars citizens of certain countries from entering the United States.

Trump told The Wall Street Journal in an interview on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that he is looking to add more countries, though he would not say which ones.

The president’s comments confirm an Associated Press report from earlier this month.

Multiple media outlets reported that seven countries are being considered to be covered by the travel ban, including Belarus, Burma, Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Nigeria, Sudan and Tanzania.

Any additions or alterations to the travel ban would draw immediate legal challenges. 

Trump’s openness to expand one of his most controversial policies at the outset of an election year signals that he will seek to rev up his base of supporters and double down on the isolationist ideas that he rode to the White House in 2016.

The Supreme Court in a 5-4 ruling in 2018 upheld a version of the ban that blocked nationals from five Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States. The ban applies to people from Iran, Libya, Syria, Somalia and Yemen.

The ban upheld by the high court was a watered down version of the original White House proposal, which barred people from Iran, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Somalia and Sudan from coming to the United States for 90 days and banned all refugees for 120 days.

The proposal drew nationwide protests at airports and other public places from critics who decried it as Islamophobic.