...
By Dan Gooding and Gabe Whisnant
0
Share
Newsweek is a Trust Project member
See more of our trusted coverage when you search.Prefer Newsweek on Googleto see more of our trusted coverage when you search.
The Trump administration is expanding its travel ban to include five additional countries and imposing new limits on travelers from other countries, officials announced Tuesday, as part of an effort to tighten U.S. entry standards for travel and immigration.
Under the expanded policy announced Tuesday, citizens of Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, South Sudan and Syria are now barred from entering the United States.
The administration also imposed a full travel restriction on holders of travel documents issued by the Palestinian Authority.
Read More on News
An additional 15 countries will face partial restrictions under the updated policy: Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Dominica, Gabon, Gambia, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Tonga, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Why It Matters
Restricting entry into the U.S. from specific countries has been a feature of both Trump administrations. The president has said he believes restricting or preventing travel from various nations improves national security, and is easier than the logistics of deporting foreign nationals who become green card holders. Critics of the policy have said the sweeping nature ignores the difficulties immigrants face reaching the U.S. in the first place, and that families can be unfairly separated by such bans.
What To Know
In June, President Donald Trump announced a ban on visitors from 12 countries and restrictions on travelers from seven others, reviving a signature policy from his first term.
Those countries included Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen, with heightened restrictions placed on travelers from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.
The new rules also expanded restrictions to green card applicants and other immigration benefit applicants from these nations, but not to those already granted legal permanent residency.
The move on Tuesday followed the arrest of an Afghan national accused of the shooting of two National Guard members over Thanksgiving weekend. The suspect has pleaded not guilty to murder and assault charges. The case has been followed by a flurry of additional immigration measures from the White House, including the further restriction of asylum claims and the promise of re-vetting individuals admitted to the U.S. under President Joe Biden.
In his proclamation, Trump said it was the policy of the U.S. to "protect its citizens from foreign nationals who intend to commit terrorist attacks, threaten our national security and public safety, incite hate crimes, or otherwise exploit the immigration laws for malevolent purposes."
The addition of countries to the travel ban list came after discussion between the Secretary of State, Attorney General, Secretary of Homeland Security, and Director of National Intelligence, who identified countries to be targeted, the proclamation said.
U.S. officials had tried to engage with the countries listed in the summer, but despite efforts to address concerns, many "continue to exhibit woeful inadequacies in screening, vetting, and provision of information", the announcement read.
The message from the president was that countries of concern added on Tuesday also were not doing enough to allay federal agencies' worries about corruption and potential terrorist activity, and that a blanket ban or severe limit on visa issuances was needed.
...
What People Are Saying
President Trump, in his proclamation Tuesday: "According to United States law enforcement reporting, foreign nationals from countries named in this proclamation have been involved with crimes that include murder, terrorism, embezzling public funds, human smuggling, human trafficking, and other criminal activity.
"Many of these countries are ranked in the top third of countries for criminality, and widely unreliable foreign civil documents and lack of authoritative criminal information make it extremely difficult for United States screening and vetting authorities to assess prior criminal activity and other grounds of inadmissibility."
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, on X: "There are still open questions, such as whether the admin will now expand a USCIS pause on adjudication of immigration benefits to nationals of the 20 new countries."
What's Next
The new travel ban list will come into force on January 1, 2026.
View 0 Comments
Submit Correction
View Editorial & AI Guidelines