President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed a proclamation to restrict and curb the entry of individuals from 19 nations into the United States citing security risks.
A full travel ban affects nationals from Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. These restrictions distinguish between, but apply to both, the entry of immigrants and nonimmigrants, the proclamation said.
The president also enacted a partial travel ban on individuals from seven other countries, including Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.
The unrestricted entry of nationals from the named countries would be "detrimental to the interests of the United States," the president wrote. "Publicly disclosing additional details on which I relied in making these determinations, however, would cause serious damage to the national security of the United States, and many such details are classified," the proclamation read.
The president is fulfilling a promise to protect Americans from dangerous foreign actors that want to come to our country and cause us harm, said White House deputy press secretary Abigail Jackson on X.
“These commonsense restrictions are country-specific and include places that lack proper vetting, exhibit high visa overstay rates, or fail to share identity and threat information," she wrote.
The proclamation does not apply to an individual who has been granted asylum by the U.S., to a refugee who has already been admitted to the U.S., or to an individual granted withholding of removal or protection under the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment of Punishment (CAT).
"Nothing in this proclamation shall be construed to limit the ability of an individual to seek asylum, refugee status, withholding of removal, or protection under the CAT, consistent with the laws of the United States," according to the document.
The ban takes effect on 12:01am EST on June 9, 2025.
