The US President, Joe Biden on Friday imposed travel restriction on eight African countries including South Africa, over fear of the new variant dubbed Omicron by the World Health Organization, despite condemning such actions while he was running for president.
Travelers from South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique and Malawi will be barred from entering the United States from Monday.
The Biden administration did not give indication on how long the ban will last.
The travel ban comes even as no cases of the new variant, Omicron has been detected in the United States.
In February 2020, Joe Biden suggested that Donald Trump’s travel ban was ‘xenophobia, and fear-mongering.” He also said that Trump’s ban on African countries “is designed to make it harder for black and brown people to immigrate to the United States.”
“We are in the midst of a crisis with the coronavirus. We need to lead the way with science — not Donald Trump’s record of hysteria, xenophobia, and fear-mongering. He is the worst possible person to lead our country through a global health emergency,” Joe Biden wrote on Twitter.
Biden’s tweets came a day after Donald Trump issued travel ban to six countries that included Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Nigeria, Sudan, and Tanzania, in addition to his travel ban on China.
We are in the midst of a crisis with the coronavirus. We need to lead the way with science — not Donald Trump’s record of hysteria, xenophobia, and fear-mongering. He is the worst possible person to lead our country through a global health emergency.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) February 1, 2020
Read also: Covid-19: EU to suspend air travel from South African countries
Trump further diminished the U.S. in the eyes of the world by expanding his travel ban. This new “African Ban,” is designed to make it harder for black and brown people to immigrate to the United States. It’s a disgrace, and we cannot let him succeed. https://t.co/oePD5eSAWY
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) February 2, 2020
In March 2020, Joe Biden, the then candidate also said that “Banning all travel from Europe — or any other part of the world — will not stop [coronavirus].”
He tweeted, “A wall will not stop the coronavirus,” Biden tweeted in March of 2020. “Banning all travel from Europe — or any other part of the world — will not stop it. This disease could impact every nation and any person on the planet — and we need a plan to combat it.”
A wall will not stop the coronavirus.
Banning all travel from Europe — or any other part of the world — will not stop it.
This disease could impact every nation and any person on the planet — and we need a plan to combat it.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) March 13, 2020
Joe Biden was not alone in condemning the travels ban in 2020. The US Vice President Kamala Harris said that the travel ban by Trump was “un-American” and “driven by hate not security.”
Trump’s extended un-American travel ban undermines our nation’s core values. It is clearly driven by hate, not security. https://t.co/x0fHFKRHWo
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) February 1, 2020
Ifunanya Ikueze is an Engineer, Safety Professional, Writer, Investor, Entrepreneur and Educator.
