President Donald Trump’s new ban on travel to the U.S. by citizens from 12 mainly African and Middle Eastern countries took effect Monday amid rising tension over the president’s escalating campaign of immigration enforcement.
The new proclamation, which Trump signed last week, applies to citizens of Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. It also imposes heightened restrictions on people from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela who are outside the U.S. and don’t hold a valid visa.
In total, just under 162,000 immigrant visas and temporary work, study, and travel visas were issued in fiscal year 2023 to nationals of the affected countries in the now banned visa categories, according to the Migration Policy Institute. The ban includes exemptions, such as for dual nationals, permanent residents, immigrant visas for immediate family members of citizens and athletes traveling for major sporting events like next year’s World Cup, when the U.S. hosts about 75 per cent of tournament games.
The new ban does not revoke visas previously issued to people from countries on the list, according to guidance issued Friday to all U.S. diplomatic missions. However, unless an applicant meets narrow criteria for an exemption to the ban, his or her application will be rejected starting Monday. Â
During Trump’s first term, a hastily written executive order ordering the denial of entry to citizens of mainly Muslim countries created chaos at numerous airports and other ports of entry, prompting successful legal challenges and major revisions to the policy.
No such disruption was immediately discernible at Los Angeles International Airport in the hours after the new ban took effect.
Ban criticized by migrant advocates
While the U.S. does have a significant issue with unauthorized persons within its borders, estimated at between 11 million and 12 million people by various immigration think-tanks, the ban was quickly denounced by groups that provide aid and resettlement help to refugees.
“This policy is not about national security — it is about sowing division and vilifying communities that are seeking safety and opportunity in the United States,” said Abby Maxman, president of Oxfam America, a nonprofit international relief organization.
The inclusion of Afghanistan angered some supporters who have worked to resettle its people. The ban does make exceptions for Afghans on Special Immigrant Visas, generally people who worked most closely with the U.S. government during the two-decade-long war there.
U.S. President Donald Trump defended banning entry to citizens of twelve countries and imposing stiff travel restrictions on seven other countries. Trump said he’s focused on countries that pose a terror threat, have a history of visa violations or lack safe travel documentation systems.
Afghanistan had been one of the largest sources of resettled refugees, with about 14,000 arrivals in a 12-month period through September 2024. Trump suspended refugee resettlement from the country on his first day in office.
While most of the countries on the list are on the other side of the world, the Caribbean nation of Haiti is an exception. The country is currently wracked by some of its most significant gang violence ever, with UN officials saying last week a food crisis exists for many of the island’s inhabitants.Â
Haitian-American Elvanise Louis-Juste, who was at the airport earlier Sunday in Newark, N.J., awaiting a flight to her home state of Florida, said many Haitians wanting to come to the U.S. are simply seeking to escape violence and unrest.
“I have family in Haiti, so it’s pretty upsetting to see and hear,” Louis-Juste, 23, said of the travel ban. “I don’t think it’s a good thing. I think it’s very upsetting.”
Many immigration experts say the new ban is more carefully crafted and appears designed to beat court challenges that hampered the first by focusing on the visa application process.
Trump said this time that some countries had “deficient” screening for passports and other public documents or have historically refused to take back their own citizens. He relied extensively on an annual Homeland Security report of people who remain in the U.S. after their visas expired.
Measuring overstay rates has challenged experts for decades, but the government has made a limited attempt annually since 2016. Trump’s proclamation cites overstay rates for eight of the 12 banned countries.
Trump also tied the new ban to an attack in Boulder, Colo., saying it underscored the dangers posed by some visitors who overstay visas. U.S. officials say the man charged in the attack overstayed a tourist visa. He is from Egypt, a country that is not on Trump’s restricted list.
“Egypt has been a country that we deal with very closely. They have things under control,” Trump said last week. “The countries that we have don’t have things under control.”
