US President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed a proclamation expanding full or partial travel restrictions to 39 countries, up from the previous 19, the White House said.
Seven countries – Laos, Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, South Sudan and Syria – were newly added to the full travel ban list. Laos and Sierra Leone had earlier been under partial restrictions.
The proclamation also places partial restrictions on nationals of 15 additional countries – Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, Dominica, Gabon, The Gambia, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Tonga, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The White House said these countries show “severe deficiencies in screening, vetting, and information-sharing.”
The order further imposes travel limits on individuals using Palestinian Authority-issued travel documents and lifts a ban on nonimmigrant visas for citizens of Turkmenistan, while maintaining suspended entry for Turkmen nationals.
Exceptions apply to lawful permanent residents, existing visa holders, specific visa categories and individuals whose entry serves US national interests.
The expansion follows Trump’s stepped-up immigration crackdown after a shooting in Washington, DC, that killed one National Guard member and critically wounded another.
The suspect, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, is an Afghan national who previously worked with the US in Afghanistan, resettled in Washington state under the Biden administration and was later granted asylum during Trump’s presidency.
Trump has since tightened or halted most forms of foreign entry, alongside a mass deportation campaign, pauses on asylum decisions, reviews of Biden-era cases and a reexamination of certain green-card holders.
In his first term, Trump imposed travel bans on several countries, a policy upheld by the Supreme Court in 2018 and later repealed by former president Joe Biden in 2021.
With the latest proclamation, the countries facing full or partial US travel restrictions are Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, Venezuela, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, South Sudan, Syria, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, Dominica, Gabon, The Gambia, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Tonga, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
