US President Donald Trump has signed a proclamation banning all travel from certain countries.
The proclamation fully restricts and limits the entry of nationals from 12 countries: Afghanistan, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Myanmar, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen, the White House said.
The ban will take effect at 12:01 a.m. Monday Washington time (04:01 UST), news agencies reported.
Visitors to the United States from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela will also face heightened restrictions.
"I must act to protect the national security and national interest of the United States and its people," Trump said in his proclamation.
"Some of the named countries have inadequate screening and vetting processes, hindering America's ability to identify potential security threats before entry," a fact sheet issued by the White House states.
Other countries "exhibit high visa overstay rates," or did not cooperate in sharing identity and threat information, it adds.
Trump's first term saw sweeping travel bans
Trump also implemented several travel bans for certain countries during his first term as US president.
His first ban in 2017 targeted seven majority-Muslim countries for 90 days.
Later bans included Myanmar, Eritrea, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Libya, Nigeria, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Venezuela, and Yemen. These were lifted by former US President Joe Biden in 2021.
What does the US mean by a partial travel ban?
The nationals of seven countries are covered by a partial travel ban: Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.
The partial travel ban affects people wanting to enter the United States temporarily for business (B-1 visa), tourism (B-2 visa) or a combination or both purposes (B-1/B-2 visa).
The new restrictions also also apply to those wanting to undertake academic or vocational study (F or M visa) or do a work- or study-based exchange program (J visa).
Trump says he signed travel ban due to Colorado attack
US President Donald Trump said he decided to implement the new travel ban on 12 countries because of an attack on a Colorado rally in support of Israelis taken hostage by Hamas in Gaza.
Authorities blame the attack on an Egyptian national they say was in the country illegally.
"The recent terror attack in Boulder, Colorado has underscored the extreme dangers posed to our country by the entry of foreign nationals who are not properly vetted," Trump said in a video message.
"We don't want them," he added.
Egypt is not named on the new travel ban list.
Trump also said the list could be exanded as threats emerge around the world.
What justification has Trump given for the travel bans?
US President Donald Trump said the full travel bans and partial restrictions — affecting 19 countries in total — were because of what he called national security and public safety threats.
Several countries were banned because of concerns over terrorism and their governments' lack of screening and vetting measures.
These include Afghanistan, Iran, Libya, Somalia and Cuba.
Other countries, such as Sudan, Haiti, Yemen and Eritrea, are on the list because they don't have a "competent or cooperative central authority for issuing passports or civil documents," the White House said in a statement.
For other nations, such as Chad, the Republic of the Congo and Equatorial Guinea, the White House pointed squarely to high visa overstay rates.
As well as having high overstay rates, some countries have also historically refused to take back their own citizens, the White House said, such as Myanmar, Laos, Sierra Leone and Venezuela.
Trump's travel ban called 'bigoted and Islamophobic'
The Trump travel bans have attracted criticism from different idological quarters.
Congresswoman Judy Chu, a Democrat who represents California, called Trump's travel ban Trump 'bigoted and Islamophobic' in a post on X.
"This goes against our core American values while doing nothing to make us safer," she said.
Immigration analyst Alex Nowrasteh from the Cato Institute, a Washington-based libertarian think tank, noted that terrorists from the 12 countries slapped with a total travel ban have killed one person on US soil since 1975.
"Annual chance of being killed by terrorist from one of those countries: 1 in 13.9 billion per year," he posted on X.
Oxfam America warned in a statement that the new travel ban "marks a chilling return to policies of fear, discrimination, and division."
The ban once again targets individuals from Muslim-majority countries and nations with predominantly Black and brown populations, it added, deepening "inequality and perpetuates harmful stereotypes, racist tropes, and religious intolerance."
