President Donald Trump signed a proclamation on Wednesday announcing widespread bans and restrictions targeting visitors from 19 nations, while also delivering a stark warning that Egypt might be added to the list next in the wake of the harrowing Colorado terror attack.
Nationals from Afghanistan, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Myanmar, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen will be completely banned from entering the United States under the new directive set to take effect on June 9. Meanwhile, travelers from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela will face partial restrictions, losing eligibility for all immigrant visas and several types of non-immigrant travel under the new order.
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“I have determined to fully restrict and limit the entry of nationals of the following 12 countries: Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen,” the president wrote in the order.
“These restrictions distinguish between, but apply to both, the entry of immigrants and nonimmigrants,” read the proclamation.
Trump cited Sunday’s antisemitic firebomb attack in Colorado — allegedly committed by an Egyptian national who had overstayed a tourist visa — as one of the key reasons behind the new restrictions.
“The recent terror attack in Boulder, Colorado has 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,” Trump said in a video discussing the proclamation posted on Truth Social. “We don’t want them.”
The fresh travel ban comes after Trump issued an executive order on January 20, saying, “Protecting the United States From Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats” – directing Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other Cabinet officials to identify countries “for which vetting and screening information is so deficient” that restrictions are warranted.
“Many of these countries have also taken advantage of the United States in their exploitation of our visa system and their historic failure to accept back their removable nationals,” Trump said of the nations on the list.
Drawing Trump’s Wrath
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The president claimed that people from the banned countries “present considerable risks of overstaying their visas,” putting pressure on law enforcement and “often exacerbates other risks related to national security and public safety.”
“As President, I must act to protect the national security and national interest of the United States and its people,” Trump added, noting that he remains “committed to engaging with those countries willing to cooperate to improve information-sharing and identity-management procedures, and to address both terrorism-related and public-safety risks.”
The ban is likely to face several legal challenges.
Shortly after beginning his first term, Trump issued a similar order that banned foreign nationals from several Muslim-majority nations, such as Iran, Yemen, and Libya, citing concerns over terrorism.
He later broadened the 2017 order—which quickly sparked multiple lawsuits—to also cover Venezuela and North Korea.
The Supreme Court lifted injunctions that had prevented Trump from enforcing the policy and ultimately upheld the travel ban in 2018.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), the former leader of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, condemned Trump’s order, calling it “dangerous.” “This ban, expanded from Trump’s Muslim ban in his first term, will only further isolate us on the world stage,” Jayapal said in a statement.
