President Trump said Thursday Egypt was not included on a proclamation banning travel into the U.S. from several countries because “they have things under control.”
“Egypt has been a country that we deal with very closely. They have things under control. The countries that we have don’t have things under control,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
Trump had connected his second-term travel ban from 12 countries to an attack in Boulder, Colo., by an Egyptian national who had overstayed his tourist visa. Mohamed Soliman, the alleged perpetrator, has been charged with a federal hate crime after attacking a march in Colorado intended to raise awareness about Israeli hostages.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced on Wednesday it would deport Soliman and his family including his wife and five children, four of whom are minors, all of whom are Egyptian nationals.
In a video message following the announcement of Trump’s proclamation late Wednesday, Trump attempted to connect his travel ban to the Boulder attack but did not address the fact that Egypt, the home country of the perpetrator, was not on the list.
Trump’s proclamation banning travel into the United States for individuals from a dozen countries cited national security concerns.
The proclamation, which echoes a travel ban Trump instituted in his first term, fully restricts the entry of nationals from Afghanistan, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Myanmar, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
It also partially restricts entry into the U.S. for nationals coming from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.
The proclamation makes exceptions for nationals from all 19 of those countries who are lawful permanent residents of the United States or existing visa holders and individuals “whose entry serves U.S. national interests.”
