Green Card Holders Who Traveled to Ebola-stricken Congo, Uganda and South Sudan Now Can’t Return to US: CDS | Today’s news
US health authorities said in a new rule released on Friday that they plan to temporarily bar permanent residents of the country from re-entry if they have recently traveled to areas affected by Ebola.
The move escalates the Trump administration’s reliance on travel restrictions in response to a rapidly spreading outbreak in central Africa linked to hundreds of cases and 177 suspected deaths.
The revision to the quarantine rules allows the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to block the entry of authorized permanent residents, commonly known as green card holders, if they have traveled to countries where the virus is spreading.
That would strengthen restrictions announced earlier this week that bar travel to the US from people who have been to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda or South Sudan in the previous 21 days. This order did not apply to US citizens, nationals, or legal permanent residents.
What the CDC said
The CDC said in a statement that the rule will not permanently block affected green card holders, but gives the agency the authority to restrict entry when necessary. The rule said the decision stems from resource constraints and the fact that green card holders are more likely to have ties to people who live outside the U.S., making their inability to return to U.S. soil less of a burden.
The Department of Human and Health Services and the CDC “have determined that the best balance between ensuring that the Director of the CDC has the ability to properly allocate resources and considering the interests of persons entering the United States is to establish a boundary between lawful permanent residence,” the rule states.
The interim final rule published late Friday is effective immediately and will remain in effect for six months or until Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. doesn’t decide it’s no longer needed.
Existing measures “have not (and will not) fully prevent global travelers and other persons crossing from one country to another from the spread of Bundibugyo Ebola virus disease across national borders,” the interim rule said. Broader authority “is therefore critical to slowing the introduction of Ebola into the United States.”
The Trump administration has emphasized travel restrictions and increased screening in its response to the Ebola outbreak. The measures have drawn some criticism from health authorities in the region, who have urged the international community to step up efforts to contain the outbreak. The African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has condemned the travel restrictions, saying they are often unnecessary and ineffective.
The order also followed a Trump administration rule change that required US permanent residents to now leave the country to apply for green cards.
