US President Donald Trump has issued a sweeping order implementing a complete travel ban for nationals from 12 countries, while imposing restrictions on travelers from seven additional countries, the White House says.
The directive is part of an immigration crackdown Trump launched this year at the start of his second term.
The banned countries include Afghanistan, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Myanmar, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
The entry of people from seven other countries, namely Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela, will be partially restricted.
“We will not allow people to enter our country who wish to do us harm,” Trump said in a video posted on X.
He said the list could be revised and new countries could be added.
The proclamation is effective on June 9, 2025, at 12:01 am EDT (0401 GMT). Visas issued before that date will not be revoked, the order said.
Trump said the recent attack on a pro-Israel rally in Boulder, Colorado, had “underscored the extreme dangers posed to our country by the entry of foreign nationals who are not properly vetted.”
He claimed there were “millions and millions of these illegals who should not be in our country.”
“We will not let what happened in Europe happen to America,” he said, adding that “very simply, we cannot have open migration from any country where we cannot safely and reliably vet and screen those who seek to enter the United States.”
The Trump administration has taken increasingly aggressive measures against both student and visitor visa holders, especially those perceived as critical of US foreign policy or sympathetic towards Palestinians.
In January, Trump signed an order mandating enhanced security screening for all foreign nationals applying for US entry to identify potential security risks.
In March, Reuters also revealed that the administration was evaluating potential travel bans affecting numerous countries.
In a related announcement last week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also declared that the administration would begin “aggressively revoking visas for Chinese students,” particularly those he said were bearing ties to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in sensitive academic fields.
