U.S. Implements Travel Ban on 12 Countries, Partial Restrictions on 7 Others

Former U.S. President Donald Trump has issued a proclamation banning travelers from 12 countries and imposing new restrictions on visitors from seven others. The move, which Trump says is necessary to protect U.S. national security, will take effect at 12:01 a.m. on Monday.

The 12 countries facing a complete travel ban include:

• Afghanistan
• Myanmar
• Chad
• Republic of Congo
• Equatorial Guinea
• Eritrea
• Haiti
• Iran
• Libya
• Somalia
• Sudan
• Yemen

Additional restrictions will apply to visitors from:

• Burundi
• Cuba
• Laos
• Sierra Leone
• Togo
• Turkmenistan
• Venezuela

In total, 10 of the 19 countries affected are in Africa, including nations not typically associated with militant threats to the West, such as Sierra Leone, Togo, and Equatorial Guinea.

Trump justified the decision in a public statement, saying:

“I must act to protect the national security and national interest of the United States and its people.”

The list follows a directive from Trump’s January 20 executive order, which instructed U.S. intelligence and security agencies to assess “hostile attitudes” toward the U.S. and evaluate security risks posed by travelers from certain countries.

This isn’t Trump’s first travel ban. In January 2017, during his first term, he issued a widely controversial executive order barring entry from seven mostly Muslim-majority countries. That order—often dubbed the “Muslim ban”—was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2018.