Trump Administration Eyes Saint Lucia for Potential Travel Restrictions

Saint Lucia is one of 43 countries under consideration for new travel restrictions by the Trump administration, according to a New York Times report.

A draft list developed by diplomatic and security officials categorises countries into three groups: a “red” list of 11 nations facing a complete travel ban, an “orange” list of 10 countries with restricted travel, and a “yellow” list of 22 nations that would be given 60 days to clear up perceived deficiencies, with the threat of being moved onto one of the other lists if they did not comply.

Saint Lucia is on the yellow list. No specific reason was given for its placement in that category.

However, according to The New York Times, countries may be categorised in that way for failing to share traveller information with US authorities, having inadequate security protocols for issuing passports, or selling citizenship to individuals from banned nations—potentially allowing them to bypass restrictions.

Saint Lucia operates a Citizenship by Investment Programme, which may have factored into its placement on the yellow list.

Other Caribbean nations on that list are Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, and St Kitts and Nevis. Cuba and Venezuela are on the proposed red list, facing outright travel bans.

When he took office on January 20, President Donald Trump issued an executive order requiring the State Department to identify countries “for which vetting and screening information is so deficient as to warrant a partial or full suspension on the admission of nationals from those countries.”

He gave the department 60 days to finish a report for the White House with that list, which means it is due next week, The New York Times pointed out.

During Trump’s first term, courts blocked the government from enforcing the first two versions of his travel ban, but the Supreme Court eventually permitted a rewritten ban — one that banned citizens from eight nations, six of them predominantly Muslim — to take effect. The list later evolved.

Soon after he became president in January 2021, Joe Biden issued a proclamation revoking Trump’s travel bans, calling them “a stain on our national conscience” and “inconsistent with our long history of welcoming people of all faiths and no faith at all”.

Trump’s executive order in January said he would revive the bans in order to protect American citizens “from aliens who intend to commit terrorist attacks, threaten our national security, espouse hateful ideology or otherwise exploit the immigration laws for malevolent purposes.”