Trump expands list of countries facing travel ban restrictions

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump on Tuesday expanded the list of countries facing travel restrictions in the latest move by his administration to crack down on migration following the shooting of two National Guard troops last month.

The president moved to impose full restrictions and entry limitations on Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, South Sudan, and Syria, as well as “individuals holding Palestinian-Authority-issued travel documents.” That’s in addition to the 12 nations with full restrictions and seven others with partial curbs, according to the White House, which shared details on the proclamation in a fact sheet.

Trump is continuing the restrictions on 12 countries deemed “high-risk”: Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.

Two nations already facing partial travel measures — Laos and Sierra Leone — will now also be hit with full bans.

The White House said the measures were “necessary to prevent the entry of foreign nationals about whom the United States lacks sufficient information to assess the risks they pose, garner cooperation from foreign governments, enforce our immigration laws, and advance other important foreign policy, national security, and counterterrorism objectives.”

The proclamation also adds partial entry restrictions on 15 additional countries, according to the White House: Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Ivory Coast, Dominica, Gabon, The Gambia, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Tonga, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Countries including Burundi, Cuba, Togo and Venezuela also remain on the list facing some but not full restrictions.

Turkmenistan — which had partial travel restrictions imposed on it — is seeing those curbs loosened in Tuesday’s proclamation. The US is lifting the ban on nonimmigrant visas for Turkmenistan while maintaining a halt on the entry of nationals as immigrants.

The country “engaged productively with the United States and demonstrated significant progress since the previous Proclamation,” the White House said in a fact sheet.

Trump has taken a number of actions to restrict migration to the US following a shooting in November that killed one National Guard member and left another in critical condition. Federal authorities identified as the suspect as an Afghan national who arrived in the US in 2021.

Trump was expected to expand his travel ban, one of his most controversial policies, dating back to his first term, when it went through numerous iterations before being ultimately upheld by the US Supreme Court.

The upcoming World Cup, being jointly hosted by the US, Canada and Mexico, has spurred concern that restrictive visa policies will deter fans from traveling to the US. Trump has sought to allay those concerns, saying the US is creating a priority visa system to expedite travel by ticket holders.

Some countries that have qualified for the tournament are facing restrictions under Trump’s policies, including Iran, Haiti and Senegal. (Source: Bloomberg)