President Donald Trump on Wednesday restricted the entry of travelers to the United States from more than a dozen countries, resurrecting and expanding sweeping restrictions from his first term that are expected to draw swift legal challenges.
The presidential proclamation, slated to go into effect June 9, fully restricts the entry of individuals from Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. It also partially restricts the entry of travelers from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.
The Trump administration, in a document circulated Wednesday evening, cited national security concerns and said the president made his decision after reviewing a State Department report. Authorities said the ban was necessary to compel foreign governments to cooperate with their agenda and enforce the country’s immigration laws.
Countries included in the ban were deemed to have insufficient security vetting procedures for issuing passports or other travel documents and had high rates of citizens who overstayed their visas in the United States, authorities said. The new travel restrictions include exceptions for lawful permanent residents, existing visa holders, certain visa categories, and individuals whose entry serves U.S. national interests.
The president added that the travel ban list could change based on whether authorities in those countries make “material improvements” to their own screening procedures.
“Likewise,” Trump said, “new countries can be added as threats emerge around the world.”
Democrats condemned the administration’s announcement and cast the ban as a betrayal of American values. Sen. Edward J. Markey (Massachusetts) said the move will not make America safer, and Sen. Adam Schiff (California) said the ban will serve to further isolate the United States on the global stage. Rep. Yassamin Ansari (Arizona), who is Iranian American, said the “xenophobic and racist ban will devastate my constituents and families like mine.”
Immigrant rights groups rebuked the new restrictions. In a statement Wednesday night, Shawn VanDiver, president and board chairman of #AfghanEvac, a nonprofit group that helps coordinate the resettlement of Afghans, said the travel ban “is not about national security — it is about political theater.”
He suggested the administration was seeking to capitalize politically by tying the announcement to the attack in Boulder.
“Let’s call it what it is: a second Muslim Ban, dressed up in bureaucracy, and rushed out in the aftermath of a tragedy to disguise its intent,” VanDiver said. “The administration had this policy prepared weeks ago. It was not drafted in response to the Boulder attack. It was delayed until a moment of public grief and fear could be exploited for maximum political cover. That’s not leadership. It’s opportunism.”
The effort to significantly curtail travelers from 19 countries comes as the Trump administration has pursued extraordinary measures to curtail illegal and legal immigration, including efforts to enact mass deportations, ban birthright citizenship, suspend refugee admissions and scrap due process rights for alleged gang members from Venezuela.
Trump pledged during his 2024 presidential campaign to reimpose an expanded version of the travel ban, saying it would come back “bigger than before and much stronger than before.” His effort to impose a ban in early 2017 created chaos at U.S. airports and drew legal challenges from civil liberties groups and immigrant rights advocates. The first Trump administration was forced to amend the plans twice before the Supreme Court upheld a third version in June 2018.
Immigration lawyers said they have fielded queries from U.S. citizens and noncitizens seeking advice on how to deal with potential travel restrictions for family members or themselves.
“This discriminatory policy, which limits legal immigration, not only flies in the face of what our country is supposed to stand for, it will be harmful to our economy and our communities that rely on contributions of people who come to America from this wide range of countries,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Washington) said on X.
Niha Masih contributed to this report.
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