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Trump’s proclamation last week restricting entry into the United States for nationals from a patchwork of 19 countries revives one of his most controversial policies from his first term and targets many of the same countries.
The directive bans entry for nationals from 12 countries starting today: Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. It also institutes partial bans and visa restrictions for Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.
Read the full story and see the charts here.
Leaders of an aid organization that has sent more than 100 Haitian children with serious cardiac conditions to the United States for heart surgery said Trump’s ban will stall or cancel lifesaving procedures for at least a dozen children or young adults.
The International Cardiac Alliance’s total waitlist for Haitians, ranging from infants to young adults, totals at least 316 people who need heart surgery, Executive Director Owen Robinson said. Some are placed in hospitals in the Dominican Republic and occasionally the Cayman Islands. But there are five open surgical slots in the United States.
“Some of them might be able to wait a few months, and others, if they don’t go now, they’re going to pass away very quickly,” Robinson said.
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Who is banned?
Nationals of the following 12 countries will be blocked from entering the United States: Afghanistan, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Myanmar, the Republic of Congo, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
In addition, nationals of seven other countries will be barred from coming into the United States permanently or under several visa programs: Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.
When does the ban take effect?
The executive order goes into effect at 12:01 am ET.
Why now?
Addressing reporters Thursday at the White House alongside German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Trump said he implemented the new ban now because “it can’t come soon enough.”
“Frankly, we want to keep bad people out of our country,” he said.
President Joe Biden reversed a similar policy in Trump’s first term, which barred foreigners from six Muslim-majority countries from entering the country.
On the campaign trail, Trump promised he would revive the ban.
In a video posted Wednesday on YouTube, Trump cited the attack in Boulder, Colorado, as justification for renewing the ban.
Are there any exceptions?
Yes. The ban will not affect nationals who are already lawful permanent residents of the United States. In other words, the proclamation will not apply to nationals from the list of banned countries who have green cards or who are living in the United States with visas.
It will also not affect nationals of the banned countries who have citizenship in second countries and are entering the United States with passports from unrestricted countries.
Other exemptions include Afghans who helped the U.S. government during the war in Afghanistan, ethnic and religious minorities facing persecution in Iran, athletes from banned countries who are entering the United States for the World Cup or the Olympics and children who are being adopted.
Countries around the world were in shock last week after Trump announced the travel ban. For many, the move seemed like a return to 2017 and one of the most controversial policies of Trump’s first term.
Chad, a country in Central Africa that is among the countries hit with bans, quickly issued a reciprocal restriction on issuing visas to U.S. citizens. “Chad has no planes to offer, no billions of dollars to give but Chad has its dignity and pride,” President Idriss Deby wrote Thursday on Facebook.
After the Trump administration canceled a special visa program with Venezuela last Wednesday, the country’s interior minister, Diosdado Cabello, described the U.S. government as “fascist,” adding that “they persecute our countrymen, our people, for no reason.”
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