Electronics Banned on U.S.-Bound Flights From Eight Middle East Countries

The Trump administration announced a new security policy on Tuesday that will ban travelers from eight Middle Eastern countries from carrying large electronics with them on flights bound for the United States. The restriction, rolled out by the Department of Homeland Security, is scheduled to go into effect within 96 hours of the announcement and be lifted in October.

Electronics banned under the new policy will include anything larger than a cellphone – laptops, tablet computers, travel printers, and handheld games larger than a phone will be prohibited.

The restrictions are aimed at U.S.-bound travelers flying out of 10 Middle Eastern cities: Amman, Jordan; Cairo, Egypt; Istanbul, Turkey; Jeddah and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; Kuwait City, Kuwait; Casablanca, Morocco; Doha, Qatar; and Dubai and Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The policy affects all travelers using foreign airlines operating out of those airports, including American citizens.

In a statement, DHS said it “seeks to balance risk with impacts to the traveling public and has determined that cellphones and smartphones will be allowed in accessible property at this time,” but the department was not specific in terms of why the ban was being enacted, how the airports were chosen, or what threats the U.S. was responding to.

Reuters, however, reported this week that the new policy may have been considered after a January raid conducted at an Al Qaeda base in Yemen, where SEALs uncovered bombmaking plans. The terrorist group has already made several attempts at destroying U.S. airliners.

So, as every mainstream media story has been careful to point out, all of the countries affected by this policy are “Muslim-majority,” which is the left’s favorite new term. Which causes us to wonder: How long will it be before some overeager Democrat governor instructs his state attorney’s office to challenge this policy in court? Look – Trump is singling Muslims out again without any justification! Arabs have a constitutional right to bring laptops with them on airplanes headed for the U.S.! It’s what the founders intended! This is religious discrimination!

We honestly wouldn’t be surprised.