Trump Issues Travel Ban for 12 Countries’ Citizens, Citing National Security Concerns
U.S. President Donald Trump banned citizens of 12 countries from entering the United States and imposed travel restrictions on citizens of seven other nations, citing national security concerns.
The ban applies to citizens of Afghanistan, Chad, Eritrea, Equatorial Guinea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Myanmar, the Republic of Congo, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen. It goes into effect on Monday, 9 June, at 12:01 a.m. and does not have an end date.
“The United States must ensure that admitted aliens and aliens otherwise already present in the United States do not bear hostile attitudes toward its citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles, and do not advocate for, aid, or support designated foreign terrorists or other threats to our national security,” Trump said in the proclamation announcing the ban on Wednesday.
Additional restrictions on travel will be imposed on citizens of Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela who are outside of the United States and do not have a valid visa. The White House said in a fact sheet that these restrictions are due to the high level of risk to the United States that travelers from these countries allegedly pose.
“The restrictions and limitations imposed by the proclamation are necessary to garner cooperation from foreign governments, enforce our immigration laws, and advance other important foreign policy, national security, and counterterrorism objectives,” the White House said.
Some of the specific issues the Trump administration referenced for the ban included high visa overstay rates once in the United States posing a burden for immigration enforcement systems, lack of cooperation from countries’ officials in sharing identity and threat information, significant terrorist presence or state-sponsored terrorism that poses a direct risk to the United States, and inadequate screening and vetting processes that limit America’s ability to identify potential security threats before entry to the United States.
The president issued the ban just days after an Egyptian man who had overstayed his visa allegedly attacked a group of marchers in Boulder, Colorado, supporting the release of hostages being held by Hamas.
Trump said in a video posted to social media on Wednesday that the Boulder attack “underscored the extreme dangers posed to our country by the entry of foreign nationals who are not properly vetted, as well as those who come here as temporary visitors and overstay their visas. We don’t want them.”
Despite this reasoning, Trump did not include Egypt in the travel ban or restrictions proclamation. Instead, he instructed the U.S. secretary of state, the attorney general, secretary of homeland security, and the director of national intelligence to provide him with an update on Egypt’s screening and vetting capabilities.
Effects and Exemptions
The ban and travel restrictions will affect individuals who are outside of the United States and do not possess a valid U.S. visa at 12:01 a.m. on 9 June 2025.
For organizations that have employees who might be affected by the restrictions, law firm Ogletree Deakins recommends considering having foreign nationals from the designated countries who are traveling outside of the United States return before the entry restrictions take effect.
The firm also cautioned that nationals of countries under the full ban might be barred from receiving new visas or be unable to return to the United States if they leave the country after 12:01 a.m. on 9 June.
"Nationals of partially restricted countries may face denials for specific visa categories, including B-1/B-2, F, M, and J visas," the firm wrote in a blog post. "Employment-based visa applicants from partially restricted countries may still receive new visas, however the validity of the visa may be restricted, and applicants may face protracted screening procedures."
The ban will affect millions of people, but Venezuelans might be especially hard hit by the restrictions. Analysis from The Guardian found that 66,519 people from Venezuela received temporary visas to the United States in 2024 alone—significantly more than Cubans, who received just 12,278, and Turkmens, who received 3,287.
Venezuela was singled out for restrictions on travel by the Trump administration because of its allegedly incompetent central authority for issuing passports, limited screening and vetting measures, and refusal to accept removable nationals back.
In an appearance on Wednesday after the ban was announced, Venezuela Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello warned citizens against traveling to the United States and described the U.S. government as fascist.
“Being in the United States is a great risk for anyone, not just for Venezuelans,” Cabello said as reported by local media and translated from Spanish to English. “They persecute our countrymen, our people, for no reason.”
Chad has also pushed back on the ban, retaliating by suspending all visas to U.S. citizens.
“Chad has neither planes to offer nor billions of dollars to give, but Chad has dignity and pride,” said President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno in a Facebook post translated from French to English.
The proclamation does include exceptions to the bans and restrictions for some individuals:
- Lawful permanent residents of the United States
- Dual nationals who are traveling using a passport issued by a country that is not designated in the proclamation
- Foreign nationals traveling with valid nonimmigrant visas in these classifications: A-1, A-2, C-2, C-3, G-1, G-2, G-3, G-4, NATO-1, NATO-2, NATO-3, NATO-4, NATO-5, or NATO-6
- Athletes or members of athletic teams (coaches, support staff, and immediate relatives) traveling for the World Cup, Olympics, or other sporting events determined by the U.S. Secretary of State
- Immediate family immigrant visas (IR-1/CR-1, IR-2/CR-2, IR-5) with clear and convincing evidence of identity and family relationship
- Children adopted by U.S. citizens
- Afghan Special Immigrant Visas (people who helped the U.S. government during the war in Afghanistan)
- Special Immigrant Visas for U.S. government employees
- Immigrant visas for ethnic and religious minorities facing persecution in Iran
The caveat for athletes is especially important for the United States, which is cohosting the World Cup in 2026 before hosting the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California, in 2028.
“The exception for the World Cup is especially significant given that one of the 12 banned countries, Iran, has already qualified for the tournament, which will be held next summer in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico,” reports Sports Business Journal. “At least two other banned countries, Haiti and Libya, have realistic chances of qualifying for the tournament, as does Venezuela. Though the proclamation, which is slated to take effect Monday, would allow athletes and team personnel to enter the country, it would seemingly prevent fans from the 12 banned countries from entering the U.S. to support their teams.”
Advocacy Groups Push Back
Advocacy groups and lawmakers are looking at the impact that the ban will have on their local communities. Minnesota, for instance, has a large population of residents that are originally from Laos (24,400) and Somalia (an estimated 86,610).
Jaylani Hussein, executive director of the Minnesota Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that he had anticipated Trump issuing this new travel ban.
“We are calling it the Muslim and African ban, and it will have a significant impact on Minnesota,” Hussein said. “It is cruel. It is racist. And it is absolutely inconsistent with the American values of liberty, equality, and human dignity.”
Hussein is among many advocates who have been critical of the ban since it was released Wednesday evening.
“We are already at a precarious moment for our economy,” said Jeremy Robbins, executive director of the American Immigration Council, in a statement. “Within the United States, immigrants who originate from the 19 targeted countries are already contributing significantly to the U.S. economy, earing billions of dollars of income and paying back billions in taxes.
“People from some nationalities on this travel ban list are already playing an outsized role in driving entrepreneurship and filling in labor shortages in STEM and healthcare,” Robbins continued. “By categorically denying visas because of where a person was born, we are stamping out one of the major sources of our country’s economic clout.”
In a statement, #AfghanEvac—which has worked to evacuate Afghanistan residents who aided the U.S. government during the war in Afghanistan—said the ban is not about national security but is political theater.
“Let’s call it what it is: a second Muslim Ban, dressed up in bureaucracy, and rushed out in the aftermath of a tragedy to disguise its intent,” the organization said in a statement shared to X (formally known as Twitter). “The administration had this policy prepared weeks ago. It was not drafted in response to the Boulder attack. It was delayed until a moment of public grief and fear could be exploited for maximum political cover. That’s not leadership. It’s opportunism.”
During Trump’s first term, he issued a travel ban that targeted predominantly Muslim countries, along with North Korea and Venezuela. That initial travel ban was contested in the courts before being rescinded by former U.S. President Joe Biden in 2021. The 2025 travel ban appears to be written in a way to avoid some of those same challenges, according to the BBC.
U.S. immigration law expert Christi Jackson spoke with the BBC and told the outlet that the first travel ban lacked “clarity,” but the 2025 restrictions are “wider in scope” and contain “clearly defined” exemptions.
