US President Donald Trump signed a presidential declaration on Wednesday banning citizens from entering the United States. Intensifying restrictions on entry into the United States have been introduced for citizens of seven more countries.
The travel ban is Trump's latest move in the crackdown on immigrants he promised in the campaign trail before last year's presidential election.
Trump said the measure would help “protect Americans from dangerous foreign actors.”
Here's what we know about the travel ban so far:
Which countries are citizens completely restricted from travelling to the United States?
Here are 12 countries whose citizens have completely restricted travel to the United States under Trump's travel ban:
Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad of the CongoEquatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen
Which countries are subject to partial restrictions?
The seven countries subject to partial restrictions are:
Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra, Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, Venezuela
How does Trump's travel ban work?
Citizens of 12 countries subject to a complete ban on travel to the United States face a complete suspension of immigrant and non-immigrant visas.
Citizens of seven countries placed under partial restrictions will no longer be able to apply for permanent immigration, student visas, or temporary non-immigrant visas covering permanent immigration, student visas, B-1, B-2, B-1/B-2, M, M, M, M, M, M, M, and Tourism Visas.
Unlike executive orders, the president's declarations are not legally binding, but generally indicate policy changes.
The new rules only apply to non-US people at the time of declaration and did not yet have a valid visa at the time of declaration.
Are there any exceptions to the travel ban?
yes. New suspensions and restrictions do not apply to:
A legal permanent resident of the United States, also known as a green card holder. Existing visa owner. Foreign diplomats traveling under certain non-immigrant visa categories. Double citizens of 19 countries included in the ban if they are travelling passports in countries that are not subject to the ban. Athlete or athletic team members, including coaches, support roles, and people who play immediate relatives, travel for major sporting events such as the World Cup and the Olympics. immigration visas for close relatives (IR-1/CR-1, IR-2/CR-2, IR-5) “Clear and persuasive evidence of identity and family relationships (e.g. DNA).” Adopted child. Special immigration visa in Afghanistan. Special immigration visas for US government officials. Immigration visas for ethnic and religious minorities facing persecution in Iran.
How many people will this affect?
“Analysis of State Department visa data shows a complete ban on 12 countries, indicating that partial bans on the other seven countries can affect a considerable number of people,” said Michel Mittelstadt, director of communications at the Institute for Immigration Policy.
More than 50,000 green cards were issued in 2023 for citizens of 12 countries that were completely banned, Mittelstadt told Al Jazeera, citing State Department data. In addition, just over 62,000 citizens from these countries were issued that year on temporary surveys, jobs or travel visas, bringing together a total of around 112,000 people from 12 countries in 2023.
In the same year, citizens of seven partially banned countries were issued with approximately 45,000 green cards and 69,000 temporary survey, work or travel visas, with a total of 115,000 visas. Together, it produces over 226,500 people.
A total of 363,549 people from listed countries gathered in the United States the previous year, according to Department of Homeland Security data. 2022 is the most recent year of record of arrivals to the US.
Approximately 250,234 of these people are from Venezuela, which is subject to only partial restrictions.
An additional 66,563 of these people are from Haiti and are now facing a complete travel ban.
Who can be affected by the worst and divide a family?
Anyone who wants to travel for study or tourism purposes will be affected by anyone who has wanted to travel to the US in the long term. But those who already live in the US could be affected as well, experts say.
“Monthly data starting in fiscal year 2024 suggests that the State Department has issued up to 236,573 visas in categories that are likely to be affected by the travel ban,” said Cecilia Esterline, senior immigration policy analyst at the Washington, D.C.-based Niskanen Center think tank. “If we expect similar numbers of visas this year, the impact on families and employers may be significant.
“However, the declaration includes some exemptions that can at least mitigate some of their effects, such as exemptions for some spouses and minor children.”
Nevertheless, the new order is likely to cause great uncertainty for those already in the United States, Mittelstadt said. “For citizens of these countries who live in the United States who are not naturalized citizens, a travel ban is likely likely to freeze them.
Mittelstadt added that the travel ban could separate families because it would be awarded to many citizens of these countries already in the US, given that it would not be possible to travel to the US legally or apply for permanent or temporary visas.
Why did Trump ban the arrival of these countries into the United States?
Trump cited security threats and “foreign terrorists” as grounds for the ban.
In a video posted on social media platform Truth Social on Wednesday, Trump said the recent attack in Boulder, Colorado “emphasized the extreme dangers posed to our country by the entry of foreigners that have not been properly vetted and the entry of foreigners who have come here as temporary visitors and past their visas.”
On June 1st, police arrested a man who threw a burnt Cen device at a group of people attending a rally for the release of prisoners of war on October 7, 2023, photographed from Israel. The FBI said it was investigating the incident as an “act of fear.”
According to a US Department of Justice affidavit, Mohamed Sabri Soliman was charged with federal hate crimes and a series of state charges. Soliman is an Egyptian citizen and lives in Kuwait. These countries are not on Trump's list of banned countries.
In a true social post, Trump denounced “(former US President Joe) Biden's ridiculous open border policy.” Stephen Miller, policy director for the White House Deputy Chiefs of Staff, said the suspect in the Boulder case had overstayed tourist visas without naming Soliman.
A fact sheet issued by the White House provides specific legitimacy to exclude countries on the new travel ban list.
These justifications included that many citizens overstayed visas, that if they overstayed in the US, there was a poor record of the country working with the US to receive citizens, or that the country was affected by the war.
According to the latest figures from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Chadians had the highest overstay rate at 49.5% of people arriving in the United States on visas. Others with a high overstay rate were Equatorial Guinea (22%), Eritrea (20%) and Yemen (19.8%).
On his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order, calling on the State Department to identify countries that “are so insufficiently lacking in review and screening information to ensure partial or complete suspension of hospitalizations of citizens from these countries.” He mentioned the order in the video announcement that banned travel.
When will the travel ban be effective?
The travel ban will take effect at EDT (04:01 GMT) at 12:10am on June 9th.
Has Trump done this before?
Yes, Trump has enacted a travel ban. During his first term in 2017, it was called the “Muslim ban” because all but one of the countries on the list at the time were the majority of Muslims.
In his true social video on Wednesday, Trump said: “In my first semester, my strong travel restrictions were one of our most successful policies and an important part of preventing major foreign terrorist attacks on American soil.”
However, Mittelstadt of the Institute for Immigration Policy said: “We are unfamiliar with previous evidence and public statements by the US government means that the first-term travel ban prevented terrorist attacks on the US soil.
She explained that while many of the intellectual and counterterrorist jobs will never be made public, the first term of the travel ban was criticized by former high-level intelligence and diplomats who worked in both Republican and Democrat administrations.
In 2017, they issued a joint declaration submitted in a legal challenge to the original travel ban. In the declaration, they said, “Prohibiting travel from the original country will not strengthen national security and may undermine counterterrorism efforts.”
The previous ban has undergone several revisions. It was upheld by the US Supreme Court in 2018. In 2021, Biden abolished the ban, calling it “a stain on the conscience of our people.”
Can we add more countries to this travel ban in the future?
yes. In his release of his true social video, Trump said:
“Likewise, as threats appear around the world, new countries can be added.”
How are affected countries responding to Trump's travel ban?
The African Union, including seven of the 12 countries on its full travel ban list, said the ban would “harm the “people-to-people bonds, education exchange, commercial engagement and broader diplomatic relations” that have been built with the United States over the past decades.
“The African Union Commission respects the US administration to consider adopting a more consultative approach and to have constructive dialogue with relevant countries,” Bullock said in a statement.
Chad responded by suspending visas for US citizens. In a Facebook post Thursday, President Idriss Deby said: “I have instructed the government to act according to the principles of reciprocity and suspended the issuance of visas to US citizens.”
“The high rates of overstaying visas in 2022 and 2023 are unacceptable, indicating a blatant disregard for US immigration law,” Trump's declaration states.
However, other African countries have come to a greater reconciliation. US Ambassador to Somali Dahil Hassan Abdi said in a statement that Somalia is ready to work with the US. “Somalia values its long-standing relationship with the United States and is ready to engage in dialogue to address the concerns raised,” he said.
Trump's declaration described Somalia as a “safe shelter for terrorists,” saying “Somalia lacks competent or cooperative central authorities to issue passports or civil documents, and there is no appropriate screening and screening measures.”
Similarly, Sierra Leone's Information Minister Sherner Barr said: “Our attitude towards this is what we can do. We believe we will work with the US partners we have and maintain a very good relationship.”
According to Trump's declaration, Sierra Leone, now subject to partial restrictions, said it “has been unable to accept removable citizens historically.”
“The truth is that being in the United States is a huge risk not only for Venezuelans, but for everyone… They are persecuting our fellow people, our people, for no reason,” said Diosdado Cabello, Venezuela's Minister of Home Affairs and Pro-Aide to President Nicolas Maduro.
Trump's declaration said “Venezuela has historically refused to accept a removable citizen.”
