Dakar, Senegal (AP) – President Donald Trump has 12 countries banned citizens It cites national security concerns in the revival and expansion of distinctive policies from his first semester, which have little impact on people in Africa and the Middle Eastern, from entry into the US and restrictions on access to seven other people.
The ban, announced Wednesday, would apply to citizens of Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. The enhanced restrictions also apply to people in Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.
The policy will take effect at 12:01am on Monday and will not be completed.
Here's what you need to know about the new rules:
How Trump justified the ban
Since returning to the White House, Trump has launched an unprecedented campaign for immigration enforcement. It has pushed the limits of enforcement and Clashed with a federal judge I'm trying to restrain him.
Afghans pass by an air travel agency in Kabul, Afghanistan on Thursday, June 5th, 2025 (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
The travel ban comes from the executive order of January 20th.
The aim is to “protect citizens from aliens who commit terrorist attacks, threaten national security, support hate ideology, or intend to exploit immigration laws for malicious purposes,” the administration said.
Trump has concluded a new ban in a video posted on social media Sunday terrorist attacks in Boulder, Coloradosaying it highlighted the dangers raised by several visitors. Who exaggerates the visa?. The man charged with the attack comes from Egypt, who is not on Trump's restricted list. American officials say him I've been staying over tourist visas.
Who is exempt from the ban?
1. Green Card holder
2. Double citizens, including US citizens who also have citizenship in one prohibited country
3. Some athletes: Athletes and their coaches travel for the World Cup, Olympics or other major sporting events decided by the US Secretary of State
4. Afghans who work in Afghanistan for the US government or its allies and are owners of Afghanistan special immigration visas
5. Iranians belonging to ethnic or religious minorities fleeing the prosecution
6. Certain US Government foreign employees who have been working abroad for at least 15 years, as well as their spouses and children.
7. People who were granted asylum before the ban or were recognized as refugees by the United States
8. With our family members who apply for a visa in relation to their spouse, children or parents
9. Diplomats and foreign government officials regarding official visits
10. People traveling to the United Nations headquarters in New York for official UN projects only
11. Representatives of international organizations and NATO on official visits in the US
12. Children adopted by US citizens
13. People in the target countries who already have a valid visa, even those with a valid visa, are still authorized by the Department of Homeland Security to deny entry;
Which countries are affected?
Trump said citizens of the country in the ban pose a risk of “terrorism-related” and “public safety” as well as overstaying visas. He also said some of these countries have been screening and reviewing “sudden” or have historically refused to regain citizens.
His findings rely widely on the annual Homeland Security Report on tourists, businessmen and students arriving in the air or by sea, exaggerating visas, relying on singles to countries with a high percentage of citizens remaining after visas expire.
“We don't want them,” Trump said.
A woman walks to a market in Kabul, Afghanistan on Thursday, June 5th, 2025.
The inclusion of Afghanistan has angered supporters who worked to resettle its people. The ban excludes Afghans on a special immigrant visa, who were the people who worked most closely with the US government during the two-year war.
The administration said it was documented if authorities in designated countries were “significantly improving” their own rules and procedures. New countries can be added “as threats appear all over the world.”
State Department Guidance
The State Department on Friday directed the US embassies and consulates not to revoke previously issued visas to people from 12 countries listed in the ban.
On cables sent to all US diplomatic missions, the department said “no action should be taken on issued visas that are already outside the consular department,” and “visa issued before it comes into effect should not be revoked in accordance with this declaration.”
However, according to Cable, signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, visa applicants from affected countries whose applications have been approved but have not yet received their visas will be denied.
Additionally, applications will be denied from Monday unless the applicant meets the narrow criteria for the ban exemption.
How the ban differs from 2017
Earlier in Trump's first term, he published Presidential Order It bans travel to the United States by citizens of seven main Muslim countries, including Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen.
It was one of the most chaotic and confused moments of his young presidency. Travelers from these countries were either prohibited from boarding flights to the US or were detained at US airports after they landed. They included students and faculty, businessmen, tourists, and people visiting friends and family.
Orders often referred to as “Muslim bans” or “Travel bans” were modified in legal challenges until the version was reached. Upheld by the Supreme Court 2018.
The ban affected a variety of categories from North Korean and Venezuelan government officials and their families, as well as travelers and immigrants from various categories from Iran, Somalia, Yemen, Syria and Libya.
Trump's response to order
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's government denounced the travel ban and characterized it in a statement as a “stigmatization and criminalization campaign” against Venezuelans.
Chad President Mahamato Debbie Itono said his country will suspend visas for US citizens in response to the ban.
Aid and resettlement groups of refugees also condemned it.
“This policy is not about national security, it is about the sector and slander that seeks security and opportunity in the United States,” said Oxfam America President Abby Maxman.
However, the response to the ban ranged from anger-protected relief and support.
In Haiti, the radio station received an appeal from angry listeners on Thursday. This includes many who are Haitians living in the US, who accused Trump of being racist and pointed out that people in many target countries are black.
Elbanese Louis Juste, a Haitian-American at the airport on Sunday in Newark, New Jersey, was waiting for a flight to his home town in Florida, but said many Haitians who want to come to the US were simply trying to escape the violence and anxiety of the country.
“I have a family in Haiti, so seeing and listening is pretty upset,” said 23-year-old Louis Justeste of the travel ban. “I don't think that's a good thing. I think it's very upsetting.”
William Lopez, a 75-year-old real estate investor who arrived from Cuba in 1967, supports a travel ban.
“These are people who don't want to work, they support the Cuban government and support communism,” Lopez said at a restaurant near Little Havana in Miami. “What the Trump administration is doing is totally good.”
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The Associated Press reporter contributed Sanon of Port-au-Prince, San Juan, Puerto Rico, Regina Garciacano of Caracas, Steve Carnowski of Minneapolis, and Gisela Salomon of Miami.
