President Donald Trump’s new travel ban officially took effect this week, barring nationals of 12 countries from entering the US with another seven being partially restricted.
President Donald Trump and his administration’s travel ban had officially taken effect this week. The ban prevents nationals from 12 countries from coming into the US and partially restricts citizens from another seven countries as well.
Trump stated that this ban is “necessary for national security,” according to reports from NPR. This is a revival of Trump’s travel ban that he enacted during his first term as president, and said he would reinstate during his campaign trail for the 2024 election.
“The recent terror attack in Boulder, Colorado has underscored the extreme dangers posed to our country by the entry of foreign nationals who are not properly vetted, as well as those who come here as temporary visitors and overstay their visas. We don’t want them,” Trump said on Wednesday.
The ban mainly impacts countries in Africa and the Middle East. The full ban applies to Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. The ban also places restrictions on citizens of Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.
“The list is subject to revision based on whether material improvements are made, and likewise, new countries can be added as threats emerge around the world. But we will not allow people to enter our country who wish to do us harm, and nothing will stop us from keeping America safe,” Trump stated.
Trump’s initial ban in 2017 mainly targeted Muslim-majority countries. Former President Joe Biden rescinded the ban on his first day of office in 2021, referring to it as a “stain on our national conscience.”
Georgetown University law professor Stephen Vladeck told NPR last week that this iteration is more detailed than the one from his first term.
“I think what’s really striking about the latest iteration of this kind of travel ban is really how radically different it looks from the clumsier, I think, less careful attempts we saw during the first Trump administration.”
The White House and Trump Administration stated that they chose the 12 specific countries in this ban because they were “found to be deficient with regards to screening and vetting and determined to pose a very high risk to the United States,” with the other seven nations “also posing a high level of risk.”
Trump signed an executive order on his first day back in office. He tasked various agencies within the administration with “identifying countries throughout the world 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.”
“The large-scale presence of terrorists, failure to cooperate on visa security, inability to verify travelers’ identities, inadequate record-keeping of criminal histories and persistently high rates of illegal visa overstays and other things,” Trump said in last week’s video.
The ban will target the visa application process, including applications that are already in process. Individuals front the 12 banned countries who have not yet received their visas, even if their applications were approved, will be denied.
The ban has exceptions for individuals who have lawful permanent residents or visas. There is also an exception for people whose entries “serves US national interests.” Dual nationals traveling with a passport from a non-banned country, children adopted by US citizens, immediate family immigrant visas “with clear and convincing evidence of identity and family relationships,” and Special Immigrant Visas for US government employees abroad are also exempt.
Foreign leaders and international groups have come out against this ban. Amnesty International recently took to X, formally known as Twitter, to speak out against the ban, calling it “discriminatory.”
“President Trump’s new travel ban is discriminatory, racist, and downright cruel. By targeting people based on their nationality, this ban only spreads disinformation and hate.”
The African Union Commission issued a statement to state their intense concern over the “potential negative of such measures on people-to-people ties, educational exchange, commercial engagement and the broader diplomatic relations that have been carefully nurtured over decades.”
“The African Union Commission respectfully calls upon the U.S. Administration to consider adopting a more consultative approach and to engage in constructive dialogue with the countries concerned,” they wrote.
Somali ambassador Dahir Hassan Abdi said that they would be willing to work with the US and their country “stands ready to engage in dialogue to address the concerns raised.”
The president of Chad, Mahamat Idriss Deby, said that his nation will be suspending the issuing of visas to US citizens in response to the travel ban. “Chad has no planes to offer, no billions of dollars to give but Chad has his dignity and pride,” he wrote on Facebook.
Venezuela’s Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said that “being in the U.S. is a big risk for anyone, not just Venezuelans. If you’re really that foolish, then go to the United States. [The nation is run by] bad people.”
Immigration lawyer Mariam Masumi stated that this year’s ban, when compared to Trump’s 2017 one, involved a more advanced notice and orderly implementation.
“A significant difference here is that the first travel ban, Trump was openly saying very racist things, that he’s going to ban Muslims from the country, and at this point, people have gotten used to that, and there’s this fatigue and tiredness around it, and we’ve unfortunately gotten very used to these policies,” Masumi told NPR.
“This is going to have a global impact, as well, on our reputation in the world, and we’re basically closing our doors for immigrants, and it’s very unfortunate that this type of policy has become normalized,” she stated.
Masumi also emphasized that her and her fellow immigration lawyers are prepared for this ban to fully take effect. “I imagine there will be legal challenges to the current ban, but I do think that they’ve been very careful in how they’ve crafted it.”
Eric Mastrota is a Contributing Editor at The National Digest based in New York. A graduate of SUNY New Paltz, he reports on world news, culture, and lifestyle. You can reach him at eric.mastrota@thenationaldigest.com.
