On Monday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the US Embassy in Peru separately announced restrictions on individuals who obstruct international child abduction cases and who undermine democratic governments in the Western Hemisphere. 

Rubio, in a statement released by the US Department of State, said: 'Protecting American children abducted across international borders and reuniting them with their parents is a top priority for the Trump Administration.' 

The administration official said he is implementing a new policy that will stop visas from being issued to anyone 'responsible for, or complicit in,' impeding international parental child abduction (IPCA) cases from being resolved. 

'This policy will add another tool under U.S. law to promote accountability when countries fail to meet their obligations under international law. We are committed to protecting the safety and well-being of all American children,' Rubio added. 

The announcement comes a few months after the Department of State released its annual IPCA report, which specifically named 14 countries for failing to comply with the 1980 Hague Abduction Convention. 

The international treaty requires children under 16 who have been removed from their country of habitual residence to be promptly returned by foreign governments. IPCA cases typically occur during parental separation or divorce proceedings. 

'When foreign government officials, judges, judicial administrators, law enforcement officials, and others intentionally obstruct the prompt resolution of these cases, they prolong family separations and block the return of children to the United States,' Rubio said.

The second set of visa restrictions announced on Monday was targeted at 'corrupt foreign officials' in Latin America who 'undermine a democratically-elected government through corruption or narcotrafficking activities in our region.' 

'Under the Trump Administration, corrupt foreign officials can no longer freely enter the United States,' the announcement, shared by Department of State Spokesman Thomas Pigott through the US Embassy in Peru, said. 

The Department of State specifically named foreign government officials and businessmen in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, accusing them of corruption and announcing they are not welcome in the US.