Why citizens of 12 countries are banned from entering the US by Mr. Trump
On June 4, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order banning citizens of 12 countries from entering the US, claiming the move was necessary to protect the country from "foreign terrorists" and other security threats.
Affected countries include: Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
Entry for people from seven other countries, including Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela, will be partially restricted. Information about these travel restrictions was first reported by CBS News.
“We are not going to allow people into our country who want to do us harm,” Mr Trump said in a video posted on social media platform X. He said the list could be revised and new countries could be added.
The order takes effect on June 9, 2025. Visas issued before that date will not be revoked, the order states.
During his first term, Mr. Trump announced a travel ban on citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries, a policy that went through several revisions before being upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2018. Former President Joe Biden, a Democrat who succeeded Mr. Trump, repealed the ban in 2021, calling it “a stain on our national conscience.”
Mr Trump said the countries subject to the most severe restrictions were identified as having a “large-scale terrorist presence”, failing to cooperate on visa security, failing to verify the identities of visitors, maintaining inadequate criminal records and having high rates of visa overstays in the US.
“We cannot allow unrestricted migration from any country where we cannot safely and reliably vet and screen those seeking to enter the United States,” Trump said.
He cited an incident in Boulder, Colorado, on June 1, in which a man threw a Molotov cocktail into a crowd of pro-Israel protesters, as an example of why the new restrictions were needed. An Egyptian citizen, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, has been charged in the attack. Federal officials said Soliman had overstayed his tourist visa and had an expired work permit — even though Egypt is not on the list of countries facing travel restrictions.
Somalia has since pledged to work with the United States to address security concerns. "Somalia values its longstanding relationship with the United States and is ready to engage in dialogue to address the concerns raised," Dahir Hassan Abdi, Somalia's ambassador to the United States, said in a statement.
Mr Trump’s directive is part of a crackdown on immigration that he launched early in his second term. He unveiled the plan in a speech in October 2023, pledging to restrict people from Gaza, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Yemen and “anywhere else that threatens our security”.
On January 20, Mr. Trump issued an executive order requiring enhanced security screening of any foreign national seeking to enter the United States to detect national security threats.
In March, Reuters reported that the Trump administration was considering travel restrictions on dozens of countries.
