President Donald Trump has banned citizens from 19 countries from entering the United States.
The sweeping restrictions affect 12 countries with complete entry bans: Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
Seven additional nations face partial restrictions: Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.
The President justified the measures as essential for protecting America from "foreign terrorists" and security threats.
Reuters
|Trump has made the sweeping restrictions
The President pointed to Sunday's incident in Boulder, Colorado, where a man threw a petrol bomb into a crowd of pro-Israel demonstrators, as evidence for why the restrictions are necessary.
Mohamed Sabry Soliman, an Egyptian national charged in the attack, had overstayed his tourist visa and possessed an expired work permit.
While Egypt does not appear on the restricted list, Trump warned it could be next.
"We will not allow people to enter our country who wish to do us harm," the president declared in a video posted on X, warning that the list could be revised with new countries potentially added.
The directive forms part of Trump's broader immigration crackdown launched at the start of his second term, which has included deportations of hundreds of Venezuelans suspected of gang membership to El Salvador and efforts to restrict foreign student enrolments.
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Donald Trump gestures after he confirmed the ban
Reuters | The scene from the incident in ColoradoTrump stated that countries facing the harshest restrictions were identified as harbouring a "large-scale presence of terrorists" and failing to cooperate on visa security.
He cited their inability to verify travellers' identities, inadequate criminal record-keeping and high rates of visa overstays in America.
"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," Trump said.
The proclamation specifies that visas issued before the June 9 deadline will remain valid and will not be revoked.
This marks Trump's second attempt at implementing travel restrictions, following his first-term ban on seven Muslim-majority nations that was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2018.
Getty | Former US president Joe Biden
Reuters
|Venezuela's Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said the move was fascist
His predecessor Joe Biden had repealed those restrictions in 2021, calling them "a stain on our national conscience."
Trump first previewed these plans in an October 2023 speech, pledging to restrict people from Gaza, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Yemen and "anywhere else that threatens our security."
International reactions have been swift and varied. Somalia immediately pledged cooperation, with Ambassador Dahir Hassan Abdi stating: "Somalia values its longstanding relationship with the United States and stands ready to engage in dialogue to address the concerns raised."
Venezuela's response was markedly different. Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello described the US government as fascist and warned Venezuelans about being in America.
He said: "The truth is being in the United States is a big risk for anybody, not just for Venezuelans...they persecute our countrymen, our people for no reason."
The restrictions threaten to derail existing plans, including a 31-year-old Myanmar teacher's participation in a US State Department exchange programme scheduled for September.