During his first presidency, Donald Trump signed an executive order banning citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries — Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen — from coming into the U.S. for 90 days.
The travel ban signed by executive order went through several updates and attempts to block it through courts before ultimately being repealed by the Biden administration; now that he is in his second term, Trump is preparing to issue a new ban for travelers from specific countries.
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Sources talk of countries likely to be hit with travel ban in coming weeks
The first executive order, which Trump signed on the night after his inauguration on Jan. 20, states that the “United States must be vigilant” that anyone “approved for admission into the United States do not intend to harm Americans or our national interests.”
It further instructs the Secretaries of State and Homeland Security as well as the Attorney General and Director of National Intelligence to, within 60 days of Jan. 20, identify “countries that warrant a partial or full suspension on the admission of nationals” — a travel ban that, as sources close to the administration told Reuters, will almost certainly include countries such as Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Related: Trump starts presidency with three executive orders affecting travel
Due to the lack of diplomatic relations between the U.S. and these nations, countries such as Sudan, Venezuela, Syria, Libya and North Korea are already on the travel ban list to the U.S. independently of the current administration while Afghanistan and Pakistan may get added before the March 21 deadline.
The sources also said that the changes would significantly roll back any refugee programs for citizens of those countries opened up during the previous administration.
Here are some other travel-related executive orders that Trump recently signed
“One source pointed out that Afghans cleared for resettlement in the U.S. as refugees or on the special visas first undergo intense screening that makes them ‘more highly vetted than any population’ in the world,” the Reuters report reads.
More on travel:
- Trump starts presidency with three executive orders affecting travel
- Government issues new travel advisory on popular beach destination
- Another country just issued a new visa requirement for visitors
The White House has not yet commented on the travel ban or whether efforts to provide guidance on which countries should be included have been moving along.
Another executive order that Trump issued immediately after his inauguration reversed Biden’s efforts to improve diplomatic ties between the U.S. and Cuba by removing the Caribbean country from a list designating it as a state sponsor of terrorism over Fidel Castro’s 1959 coup.
Trump’s reversal means that Americans who want to visit the country must continue to register their trips as aligning with one of 12 approved governmental reasons. Other sources said that Cuba could also be included on the travel ban alongside Caribbean neighbor Haiti.
“The State Department is re-issuing the Cuba Restricted List to deny resources to the very branches of the Cuban regime that directly oppress and surveil the Cuban people while controlling large swaths of the country’s economy,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote in a Jan. 31 press statement.
According to the most current U.S. Census Bureau statistics, there are currently over 2.4 million Americans of Cuban descent living in the U.S.
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