HLG: Trump's next travel ban may add 'southern Philippines'

Hammond Law Groups says that the draft on the new US travel ban includes southern Philippines.

MANILA - Hammond Law Group (HLG), a full-service immigration law firm in the United States, posted in their latest alert on February 1 that there is a new draft of US President Donald Trump Executive Order that will add more countries to travel ban, including 'southern Philippines.'

President Trump released Executive Order 13769 on January 27 banning the the entry of alien nationals from Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for 90 days.

HLG said that the US has already drafted another EO, which is still currently being circulated for review, that "may add the following countries to the travel ban implemented on January 25th: Egypt, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Colombia, Venezuela, southern Philippines, trans-Sahara (Mali), and Sulu/Sulawesi Seas Littoral."

If signed by Trump, the new Executive order may be published within the next two weeks, HLG added.




The firm further suggested that "nationals from any country on this new list (without regard to their immigration status) refrain from traveling outside the US until such time as we know more about this proposed Executive Order. It is entirely possible that this information is either inaccurate or incomplete; however, the severe consequences of being denied re-entry into the US would suggest extreme caution is justified at this time."

HLG's latest Alert can be found here.

Philippines' Special Envoy to the US Jose Manuel 'Babe' Romualdez talked about the possibility of the country's inclusion in the next travel ban in an interview over CNN Philippines.




"President Duterte said that ISIS is supposed to be already here. That is a serious concern for all of us. If we do have those elements in our country today, if it expands, obviously it's a cause for concern for the United States," he said.

"We should always be worried if we have terrorists in our midst," Romualdez added. "We could be in the list, and we should be concerned about it."

Romualdez also noted that there are 4 million Filipinos in the US, around 800,000 of which are undocumented. Around 310,000 have already been identified by homeland security and are now in danger of deportation.