President Donald Trump has issued a new proclamation barring citizens from 12 countries from entering the United States, citing national security concerns.
The comprehensive travel ban targets nationals from Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen. The restrictions are set to take effect on June 9, 2025.
Alongside the full bans, the proclamation also imposes partial entry restrictions on citizens of Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela.
Some individuals will be exempt from the ban, including athletes attending major international sporting events, certain Afghan nationals, and dual citizens whose other nationality is from a country not affected by the restrictions, according to the BBC.
Trump said the move is necessary to prevent entry by individuals deemed potential security threats.
“We cannot have open migration from any country where we cannot safely and reliably vet and screen,” he stated in a video message shared on X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday.
According to the White House, the countries facing the most severe restrictions were flagged for a “large-scale presence of terrorists,” failure to cooperate on security measures related to visas, and weak systems for verifying the identities of travelers. Other concerns cited included poor criminal record-keeping and high visa overstay rates.
This latest directive builds on Trump’s broader immigration crackdown, which intensified at the start of his second term. On January 20, he signed an executive order tightening security screenings for foreign nationals and directing federal agencies to identify countries with inadequate vetting procedures for potential entry suspensions.
The move echoes Trump’s first-term travel ban, which initially targeted seven Muslim-majority countries and was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2018. That ban was later revoked by President Joe Biden in 2021, who called it “a stain on our national conscience.”
