By - Order bans travel to US from 12 countries
- Travel from 7 other countries restricted
- Trump cites national security concerns
- Ban becomes effective on June 9
WASHINGTON, June 5 (AfrikTimes) – U.S. President Donald Trump signed a proclamation on Wednesday banning the nationals of 12 countries from entering the United States, saying the move was needed to protect against “foreign terrorists” and other security threats.
The directive is part of an immigration crackdown Trump launched this year at the start of his second term, which has also included the deportation to El Salvador of hundreds of Venezuelans suspected of being gang members and efforts to deny enrollments of some foreign students and deport others.
The countries affected by the latest travel ban are Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
The entry of people from seven other countries: Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela, will be partially restricted.
“We will not allow people to enter our country who wish to do us harm,” Trump said in a video posted on X (formerly Twitter). He said the list could be revised and new countries could be added.
U.S. President Donald Trump signs an executive order, in the Oval Office, at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S. February 14, 2025.
The proclamation will take effect on June 9, 2025, at 12:01 am EDT (0401 GMT). According to the order, visas issued before that date will remain valid and will not be revoked.
During his first term in office, Trump announced a ban on travelers from seven Muslim-majority nations, a policy that went through several iterations before it was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2018. Former President Joe Biden, a Democrat who succeeded Trump, repealed that ban on nationals from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen in 2021, calling it “a stain on our national conscience.”
Trump said the countries subject to the most severe restrictions were determined to harbor a “large-scale presence of terrorists,” fail to cooperate on visa security and have an inability to verify travelers’ identities, inadequate record-keeping of criminal histories and high rates of visa overstays in the United States.
“We cannot have open migration from any country where we cannot safely and reliably vet and screen those who seek to enter the United States,” Trump emphasized.
He cited Sunday’s incident in Boulder, Colorado in which a man tossed a gasoline bomb into a crowd of pro-Israel demonstrators as an example of why the new restrictions are needed. An Egyptian national, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, has been charged in the attack. Federal officials said Soliman had overstayed his tourist visa and had an expired work permit – although Egypt is not on the list of countries facing travel limits.
Map highlights countries whose nationals have been fully or partially restricted from entering the United States.
BEING IN THE U.S. A ‘BIG RISK’
Somalia promptly pledged to cooperate with the United States to address security concerns following the travel restrictions.
“Somalia values its longstanding relationship with the United States and stands ready to engage in dialogue to address the concerns raised,” Dahir Hassan Abdi, the Somali ambassador to the United States, said in a statement.
In contrast, Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello — a close ally of President Nicolás Maduro — responded on Wednesday evening by labeling the U.S. government “fascist” and warning Venezuelans about the dangers of living in the country.
“The truth is, being in the United States is a big risk for anybody, not just for Venezuelans … They persecute our countrymen, our people for no reason.”
A spokesperson for the Taliban-led Afghan Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry also declined to comment on the fate of thousands of Afghans waiting in Islamabad who had been in the pipeline for U.S. resettlement.
Calls early on Thursday to the spokesperson of Myanmar’s military government were not answered, and the Laotian Foreign Ministry did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
International traveler arrives after US President Donald Trump’s executive order travel ban at Logan Airport in Boston, Massachusetts, on 30 January 2017.
President Trump, who campaigned on a hardline immigration platform, previewed the travel restrictions in an October 2023 speech. He pledged to limit immigration from regions he considered national security risks, including Gaza, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, and “anywhere else that threatens our security.”
Trump issued an executive order on January 20 requiring intensified security vetting of any foreigners seeking admission to the United States to detect national security threats. That order directed several cabinet members to submit a list of countries from which travel should be partly or fully suspended because their “vetting and screening information is so deficient.”
The latest travel restrictions were first reported by CBS News. In March, Reuters reported that the Trump administration was considering travel restrictions on dozens of countries.
