Trump signs order to ban visitors from 12 countries starting Monday
U.S. leader cites 'national security and national interest of the United States and its people'
U.S. President Donald Trump resurrected a hallmark policy of his first term, announcing that citizens of 12 countries would be banned from visiting the United States and those from seven others would face restrictions.
The ban takes effect Monday at 12:01 a.m., a cushion that avoids the chaos that unfolded at airports nationwide when a similar measure took effect with virtually no notice in 2017. Trump, who signalled plans for a new ban upon taking office in January, appears to be on firmer ground this time after the Supreme Court sided with him.
Some, but not all, 12 countries also appeared on the list of banned countries in Trump's first term. The new ban includes Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
There will be heightened restrictions on visitors from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.
In a video released on social media, Trump tied the new ban to Sunday's attack in Boulder, Colo., saying it underscored the dangers posed by some visitors who overstay visas. The suspect in the attack is from Egypt, a country that is not on Trump's restricted list. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security says the suspect overstayed a tourist visa.
"Egypt has been a country that we deal with very closely. They have things under control," Trump said Thursday when asked by a reporter on Thursday. "The countries that we have don't have things under control."
While a recent Department of Homeland Security report estimated that over 2,000 Egyptians had overstayed their visas to be in the U.S. for business, education or pleasure, the suspected overstay rates was pegged at between three and four per cent, much lower than other countries that were part of the announcement, including Afghanistan, Haiti and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Trump criticizes other countries' screening
Trump said some countries had "deficient" screening and vetting or have historically refused to take back their own citizens. His findings rely extensively on an annual Homeland Security report of visa overstays of tourists, business visitors and students who arrive by air and sea, singling out countries with high percentages of people remaining after their visas expired.
"I must act to protect the national security and national interest of the United States and its people," Trump said in his proclamation.
The list results from a Jan. 20 executive order Trump issued requiring the federal departments of State and Homeland Security and the U.S. Director of National Intelligence to compile a report on "hostile attitudes" toward the U.S. and whether entry from certain countries represented a national security risk.
Haiti, which avoided a travel ban in Trump's first term, was included for high overstay rates and large numbers who came to the U.S. illegally, the report said. Haitians continue to flee poverty, hunger and deepening political instability while police and a UN-backed mission fight a surge in gang violence, with armed men controlling at least 85 per cent of its capital, Port-au-Prince.
"Haiti lacks a central authority with sufficient availability and dissemination of law enforcement information necessary to ensure its nationals do not undermine the national security of the United States," Trump wrote.
'A moral disgrace': Afghan refugee advocate
The inclusion of Afghanistan angered some supporters who have worked to resettle its people. The ban makes exceptions for Afghans on Special Immigrant Visas, generally people who worked most closely with the U.S. government during the two-decade-long war there.
Afghanistan was also one of the largest sources of resettled refugees, with about 14,000 arrivals in a 12-month period through September 2024. Trump suspended refugee resettlement his first day in office.
"To include Afghanistan — a nation whose people stood alongside American service members for 20 years — is a moral disgrace. It spits in the face of our allies, our veterans and every value we claim to uphold," said Shawn VanDiver, president and board chair of #AfghanEvac.
Trump wrote that Afghanistan "lacks a competent or cooperative central authority for issuing passports or civil documents and it does not have appropriate screening and vetting measures." He also cited its visa overstay rates.
In the case of Libya, it was recently reported that the U.S. government was trying to deport some migrants to the conflict-ridden country.
Democrats were quick to roundly criticize the Trump announcement.
"Bigotry is not security," said California Sen. Adam Schiff.
Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy accused Trump of trying to distract attention from the likely negative consequences of the president's favoured One Big Beautiful Bill. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office on Wednesday in an analysis of the bill said it could spike deficits by $2.4 trillion US over the decade and leave some 10.9 million more people without health insurance,
Echoes of prior ban in 1st Trump term
During his first term, Trump issued an executive order in January 2017 banning travel to the U.S. by citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries: Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen.
It was one of the most chaotic and confusing moments of his young, first presidency. Travellers from those nations were either barred from getting on their flights to the U.S. or detained at airports after they had landed. They included students and faculty as well as businesspeople, tourists and people visiting friends and family.
The order, often referred to as the "Muslim ban" or the "travel ban," was retooled amid legal challenges, until a version was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2018.
The ban also affected North Koreans and some Venezuelan government officials and their families.
Trump and others have defended the initial ban on national security grounds, arguing it was aimed at protecting the country and not founded on anti-Muslim bias. However, the president had called for an explicit ban on Muslims entering the U.S. during his first campaign for the White House.
With files from CBC News