The US has imposed visa sanctions on Myanmar for refusing to take back their citizens who have been asked to leave the country. The other country put under the same sanctions is Laos.
The Department of Homeland Security in coordination with the State Department issued a statement on Tuesday saying the action has been taken because the two countries “have denied or unreasonably delayed accepting their nationals ordered removed from the United States.”
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has ordered consular officers in Burma and Laos to implement visa restrictions on certain categories of applicants.
“Without an appropriate response from Burma and Laos, the scope of these sanctions may be expanded to a wider population,” said the statement.
The suspension will remain in place until Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen M Nielsen notifies the State Department that cooperation on removals has improved to an acceptable level.
Beginning Jul 9, 2018, the US Embassy in Rangoon i has discontinued issuing all B1 and B2 non-immigrant visas for current officials at the Director General level and above from the Burmese Ministries of Labor, Immigration, and Population (MOLIP) and Home Affairs (MOHA), and their immediate family members, with limited exceptions.
The United States doesn’t recognise the name Myanmar and Yangon and still uses Burma and Rangoon in all its official communications.
For any person to be removed from the US territory, the home country needs to issue travel documents to confirm identity and nationality of the person. Without those documents, the US authorities cannot complete the removal process except under certain exceptions.
Officials say that in absence of travel documents they are forced to release Burmese and Laos nationals into the United States, some with serious criminal convictions.
President Trump, who campaigned on cracking down on illegal immigration, had promised to punish countries that refused to take back their citizens and signed an executive order last year directing the departments of State and Homeland Security to suspend visas from countries that refused to take back their citizens.
Many of these people have come from conflict zones and lived in the United States for decades but had their Green Cards revoked after being convicted of a crime. However, without any documents proving their identity and nationality they cannot be sent back and have to be released into communities across the United States.
A 2001 Supreme Court ruling barred the government from detaining immigrants indefinitely simply for lack of a country willing to take them.
Last year the Trump administration imposed similar sanctions on Cambodia, Eritrea, Guinea and Sierra Leone.