United States Reverses Discriminatory Bans

On January 20, 2021, President Biden issued a proclamation “Ending the Discriminatory Bans on Entry to the United States.” It reverses several actions the previous administration took to ban entry to the United States from first primarily on Muslim countries, and later, from largely African countries.

The Biden proclamation specifically revokes: Executive Order 13780, and Proclamations 9645, 9723, and 9983. Executive Order 13780 restricted entry to the United States nationals from: Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. Proclamation 9645 restricted the entry to the United States of certain nationals from: Chad, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Syria, Venezuela, Yemen, and Somalia. Proclamation 9723 amends proclamation 9645 by removing restrictions for Chad. Proclamation 9983 restricted the entry to the United States nationals from: Burma (Myanmar), Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Nigeria, Sudan, and Tanzania.

Further the Biden proclamation instructs the State Department to restart visa processing for individuals from the affected countries. Then it mandates the Secretary of State within 45 days to make a report that communicates ways of how to correct the harm caused to those people affected by the discriminatory bans.