Trump bans travel from 12 countries, cites lax screening

President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed a proclamation barring foreign nationals from 12 countries from entering the United States. The ban will take effect at midnight on Monday. Trump accused the blocked countries of not properly vetting and screening their citizens before letting them travel to the United States. Also included in the ban were countries with high rates of citizens who overstay their visas, and countries that routinely fail to accept back their nationals who were removed from the United States.

The Trump administration began crafting the policy shortly after he took office but the anti-Semitic attack in Boulder, Colo., over the weekend sped up the project, Trump said in a video message. Following the attack, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem directed customs and immigration officials to ramp up their review of immigration records and crack down on visa overstays. However, the Boulder attacker’s home country of Egypt is not one of the dozen countries included in the ban.

Which countries are included? Individuals from the African nations of Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Libya, Somalia, and Sudan will not be permitted to enter the United States beginning next week. The ban also includes Afghanistan, Myanmar, Haiti, Iran, and Yemen. The proclamation also put in place a partial restriction on people from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela. Trump said new countries could be added to the ban as threats emerge around the world.

Are there any exceptions? Lawful permanent residents in the United States, current visa holders, and dual citizens are exempt from the policy. Individuals traveling for adoptions, athletic events, or to participate in criminal proceedings would also be allowed to enter the country.

How is this different from the ban in Trump’s first term? President Trump in January 2017 instituted a 90-day travel ban on seven majority-Muslim countries. He rescinded the order later that year and put in place a new ban, which was expanded in 2020 to include a total of 13 countries. The U.S. Supreme Court in 2018 upheld the ban but former President Joe Biden in 2021 removed the restrictions.

What else has recently changed in U.S. immigration policy? The U.S. Supreme Court last week allowed the administration to end a two-year parole program for more than half a million immigrants from Venezuela, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Cuba. Meanwhile, Trump on Wednesday issued a separate proclamation barring international students from entering the country to attend Harvard University. The move comes as a federal judge extended an order blocking the administration’s attempt to prevent international students from enrolling at the school.

Dig deeper: Read Josh Schumacher’s report about Afghans fearing deportation as the administration ends their temporary immigration status.