The Trump administration will restrict travel to the U.S. from 19 countries, the White House announced in a presidential proclamation on Wednesday, unrolling restrictions reminiscent of his controversial first-term “Muslim travel ban.”
Effective June 9, travel will be fully restricted from 12 nations: Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen.
Partial restrictions will apply to seven others: Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela.
In a video statement released on Wednesday, the president said an Egyptian man’s recent fire attack on Jewish activists in Colorado highlighted the need for such restrictions. The alleged attacker, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, remained in the U.S. after his travel visa and subsequent work authorization expiresd.
“The recent terror attack in Boulder, Colorado, has underscored the extreme danger 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 from the Oval Office. “We don’t want them.”
Lawful permanent residents, athletes traveling for the World Cup and Olympics, and those who have already been granted asylum or refugee status are among the limited exceptions to the restrictions.
Those with immediate family member visas, dual citizenship with a non-restricted passport, and United Nations and NATO visas are also exempt.
The restrictions are reminiscent of travel bans Trump imposed during his first term, which he initially described as an explicit attempt to ban Muslims from entering the U.S.
The bans prompted widespread protest and lawsuits, and the U.S. Supreme Court ultimately decided to narrowly uphold a revised version of the administration’s travel restrictions in 2018.
Announcing the second-term travel bans, Trump once again made explicit mention of Islam.
“We will restore the travel ban, some people call it the Trump travel ban, and keep the radical Islamic terrorists out of our country,” Trump said of the restrictions in a statement from the White House.
On the campaign trail, Trump vowed to bring back his travel bans and pledged to end refugee resettlement from what he called “terror-infested areas.”
“We will bring back the travel ban — you remember the famous travel ban,” he said at an event in September.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated with new information.
