Donald Trump is set to ban people from 43 countries from travelling to the US – with visas from Russia being ‘sharply restricted’.
The dramatic memo also sees key allies of Moscow placed under heavy sanctions as Belarusian travellers could see their dreams of travelling Stateside slashed, the New York Times reports.
The explosive immigration proposals come as the US president is wrestling with Putin and Zelensky over a ceasefire in Ukraine – warning last night that World War III could ‘very easily’ erupt if peace talks failed.
Alongside the warring state a vast swathe of nations from across the globe have been told their governments have 60 days to address deficiencies or they will remain on the list.
A memo shows countries divided into three separate groups – including full visa suspensions and partial suspensions.
Many are from the Middle East and Africa, with Afghanistan, Cuba, Iran and North Korea among the 11 who face the most drastic measures.
In the second group, 10 countries would face partial suspensions that would impact tourist and student visas as well as other immigrant visas, with some exceptions.
And in a third group, a total of 22 countries would be considered for a partial suspension of US visa issuance if their governments ‘do not make efforts to address deficiencies within 60 days’, the memo said.
A US official cautioned there could be changes on the list and that it was yet to be approved by the administration, including U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, after it was reported on by the New York Times.
For many in America, the policy will hark back to Trump’s explosive ‘Muslim ban’ during his first term in office. Some of the countries in the new proposal were also on the 2017 list, but many more are new.
The dramatic memo also sees key allies of Moscow placed under heavy sanctions as Belarusian travellers could see their dreams of travelling Stateside slashed, the New York Times reports
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The explosive immigration proposals come as the US president is wrestling with Putin and Zelensky over a ceasefire in Ukraine – warning last night that World War III could ‘very easily’ erupt if peace talks failed
Alongside the warring state a vast swathe of nations from across the globe have been told their governments have 60 days to address deficiencies or they will remain on the list
A group of migrants wait at a border point in Juarez City, Chihuahua, Mexico in December last year
Some of the new additions share similar characteristics with the previous list, in that they are Muslim-majority or nonwhite, poor and are considered to be corrupt, the American newspaper adds.
Critics of the Trump presidency have been left baffled by some of the list, including Bhutan, from which travel is banned. Crime rates are considered to be low in the small Buddhist and Hindu nation, situated between China and India – neither of which appear on the list.
Trump issued an executive order on January 20 requiring intensified security vetting of any foreigners seeking admission to the U.S. to detect national security threats.
That order directed several cabinet members to submit by March 21 a list of countries from which travel should be partly or fully suspended because their ‘vetting and screening information is so deficient.’
Trump’s directive is part of an immigration crackdown that he launched at the start of his second term.
He previewed his plan in an October 2023 speech, pledging to restrict people from the Gaza Strip, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Yemen and ‘anywhere else that threatens our security.’
The list is said to have been drawn up several weeks ago by the State Department and had already been reviewed by embassies and regional bureaus.
Their advice is said to include whether the attitudes towards the countries on the memo are based in fact and whether there are policy reasons for not restricting immigration from any.
Rich businessmen or people on immigrant and tourist visas could still be allowed to enter the US on the ‘orange’ list, where visas are restricted.
But they would first be made to attend mandatory in-person interviews to obtain a travel pass, the New York Times reports.
It is not clear whether people with existing visas or green cards would be exempt from the ban.
The further category includes 22 nations who would be given 60 days to address their supposed deficiencies, before potentially being moved onto the other lists.
These issues are said to include not having enough security in issuing passports, failing to give enough information about travellers or selling citizenships to people from banned countries.
The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The dramatic new plans come as Trump escalated global tensions as he warned World War III could ‘very easily’ erupt and would prove to be ‘a war like no other’ with catastrophic nuclear weapons if peace talks over Ukraine failed.
The US president issued the stark warning last night, while revealing ceasefire talks between Russia and Ukraine are progressing – but devastation could yet be unleashed if the two nations cannot agree peace terms.
Speaking to the Justice Department he said: ‘I think we have it, I think we have it, but this could lead to World War III, very easily, could very easily lead to World War III.
‘But I think we’re in pretty good shape, a lot better than where we were before we got involved.
‘That was heading into World War III territory, that would’ve been a war like no other because of nuclear weapons, and other types of weapons that you don’t even wanna know about.’
Claiming much of the progress had been made since he became president, Trump went on to say that he had been speaking with the Russian premier ‘to get the war over’.
He said: ‘I think we’re doing well with Russia, we’re speaking with President Putin, we want to get the war over.’
For many in America, the policy will spark memories of Trump’s explosive ban on travelers from seven majority-Muslim nations during his first term in office
Migrants form a caravan in Tapachula, Chiapas state, headed for the US border on January 20, 2025
In a televised address, Vladimir Putin said he would spare Ukrainian forces in Kursk if they laid down their arms
Trump’s comments come as Russia continues to pound Ukraine. Pictured: The rubble of destroyed buildings in the frontline city of Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region
Trump also told his audience that ‘maybe’ $350billion had been sent to Europe – a figure that analysts believe to be higher than accurate – and that he was on the pathway to a deal where he would be ‘getting that back’.
He added: ‘We’ve had some very good calls today with Russia, and with Ukraine, they’ve agreed to a ceasefire if we can get it with Russia. And it’s not easy. It’s a tough one.’
The US President continued to claim that at one point ‘there would have been no war had I been president. It just 100 per cent would not have happened.’
Trump’s comments on Friday came as Ukrainian troops fighting in Kursk were urged to surrender by Vladimir Putin after Donald Trump urged Russia to ‘spare’ their lives.
Moscow has recaptured the vast majority of territory seized by Kyiv in its cross-border assault into Kursk last August, including in a rapid counteroffensive over the last week.
Putin insisted that Ukrainian forces in Kursk would be ‘guaranteed life and dignified treatment’ if they laid down their arms.
He said in a televised address: ‘We are sympathetic to President Trump’s call.
‘If they lay down their arms and surrender, they will be guaranteed life and dignified treatment.’
But he added: ‘In order to effectively implement the US president’s call, (there needs to be) a corresponding order from Ukraine’s military-political leadership to its military to lay down their arms and surrender.’
Russian forces walk down a street in Kursk region, which was recently retaken from Kyiv
In a social media post, the US President had called on Putin to avoid a ‘horrible massacre’ and spare the lives of ‘thousands’ of vulnerable Ukrainian soldiers who he said were ‘completely surrounded’.
Mr Trump wrote: ‘I have strongly requested to President Putin that their lives be spared. This would be a horrible massacre, one not seen since World War II.’
Kyiv denied Mr Trump’s claims that units had been encircled. However Volodymyr Zelensky admitted the situation in Kursk was ‘very difficult’.
President Trump’s comments on Ukraine and Russia came as he announced earlier on Friday a ‘proud new chapter’ of the Justice Department that would end the ‘weaponization’ of government in rambling speech that revisited his old wounds and allowed him to gloat.
‘We are turning the page on four long years of corruption, weaponization and surrender to violent criminals and we are restoring fair, equal and impartial justice under the law,’ Trump said, standing before the seal of the Department of Justice.
But the main point of his speech was to declare victory over his political rivals and the federal officials who tried to prosecute him.
It was yet another setting for him to repeat his complaints about the cases against him and to mock his vanquished rival, Joe Biden.
Trump described the federal cases against him as ‘bulls***,’ admitting he was breaking a promise to wife Melania Trump in using the word.
Kyiv denied Mr Trump’s claims that units had been encircled. However Volodymyr Zelensky admitted the situation in Kursk was ‘very difficult’
‘I will not use a bad word. I promised my wife I would never use a bad word,’ he said before going on to use an expletive: ‘The case against me was bulls***.’
From the campaign onwards, Trump has demonstrated his interest in having control over the department and which investigations it pursues.
The visit is the first by Trump and the first by any president in a decade. The last president to visit the department was Barack Obama, who attended then Attorney General Eric Holder’s departure ceremony.
The new ban comes after Trump pledged in his election campaign to order the ‘largest deportation effort in American history.’
He vowed to make the border ‘strong and powerful,’ and said the financial costs – which some immigrant rights groups projected could cost hundreds of billions of dollars – would not be an obstacle.
‘It’s not a question of a price tag. It’s not — really, we have no choice,’ Trump told NBC News in November when asked about his plan.
‘When people have killed and murdered, when drug lords have destroyed countries, and now they’re going to go back to those countries because they’re not staying here. There is no price tag.’
He campaigned heavily on the immigration issue, even featuring grim testimony at his rallies from parents who had children killed by people who weren’t in the country legally.
Donald Trump and Elon Musk speak before departing the White House on his way to his South Florida home in Mar-a-Lago yesterday
In his previous time in office Trump banned citizens from eight nations, six of which were predominantly Muslim after a battle with the courts.
Biden revoked these shortly after becoming president in January 2021, calling the so-called ‘Muslim ban’ a ‘stain on our national conscience’.
Trump has since taken action to carry through on his threats, and last week cancelled the green card of Mahmoud Khalil, the Syrian-born Columbia University graduate who led campus protests against the war in Gaza.
Khalil, who is of Palestinian descent, was arrested in one of the first efforts by the Trump Administration to fulfill his promise to seek deportation of some foreign students involved in the pro-Palestinian protest movement, which he has called anti-Semitic.
His arrest has ignited a fierce debate over whether the Trump administration violated his First Amendment rights by detaining him and trying to deport him.
The president accused Khalil of being ‘pro-Hamas’ and Rubio declared the U.S. would revoke visas and green cards of ‘Hamas supporters in America.’
A judge on Monday blocked his immediate deportation, so his legal challenge could be considered.
Khalil has not been charged with a crime. He is also married to a U.S. citizen. His wife is eight months pregnant.
A brief hearing on Wednesday largely focused on jurisdiction, but one of Khalil’s lawyers told the judge that they have not been able to have a single attorney-client protected phone call with him.
Hundreds of people have come out in protest of his arrest this week, and Democrats have raised alarms after he was arrested but not charged with a crime.
