The internal communication within the State Department was signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and was first reported by the Washington Post on Saturday, June 14.

The cable outlined a dozen concerns about the countries listed, including overstaying visas, involvement in acts of terrorism, or antisemitic and anti-American activity. The State Department is seeking corrective actions from each country in order to avoid being included in the visa ban.

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“The Department has identified 36 countries of concern that might be recommended for full or partial suspension of entry if they do not meet established benchmarks and requirements within 60 days,” the cable, seen by Reuters, said.

President Donald Trump holds an executive order, at the White House, in Washington, D.C., on March 25, 2025.

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The countries that the Trump administration is considering adding are: Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cote D’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Dominica, Ethiopia, Egypt, Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Malawi, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, South Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Tonga, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

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The ban expands the list of 12 countries that the State Department has placed a travel ban on through an executive order signed by Trump on June 4. The executive order also partially restricts travelers from seven countries.

If these 36 countries are added, the Trump administration will ban or partially restrict travelers from nearly 30% of all countries from entering the United States.

Haitian migrants cross the Rio Grande from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico to El Paso, Texas on May 17, 2022. The migrants evaded Mexican National Guard and quickly crossed the river embankment and turned themselves into Customs and Border Protection officers on the U.S. side of the international border.

Safe third country exception

Affected countries are being provided options from the Trump administration to avoid being included in the travel ban.

Among the ways a country could avoid being listed in the ban is to agree to receive foreign nationals deported from the United States as part of a “safe third country” agreement, the New York Times reported.

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A “safe third country” agreement is a treaty in which a country, such as the United States, considers a third country “safe” for refugees. The countries also must have a functioning asylum system to receive third-country asylum seekers.

However, as Yael Schacher, the director for the Americas and Europe at Refugees International, points out, many of the countries that face a possible travel ban do not comply with the requirements to be part of such an agreement. This raises grave concerns.

“The thing about safe third country agreements is that the country you make the agreement with is supposed to have a full and fair asylum procedure and be safe,” Schacher said. “Burkina Faso is just a mess. It has one of the worst internal displacement crises in the world. The idea of sending third country nationals there or it being considered a safe country, it can’t even protect its own nationals.”

Other countries on the list, such as Egypt, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, are also incapable of providing a safe destination for asylum seekers.

Venezuelan migrants set up an encampment on the south bank of the Rio Grande in Ciudad Juarez. Many of the migrants have been expelled under Title 42 after seeking asylum and are hoping to be accepted as refugees in the U.S. In this photo, a man carries his belongings as he prepares to set camp.

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This is not the first “safe third country” agreement the U.S. has sought in a ploy to deport foreign nationals to other countries.

Trump signed asylum cooperation agreements with the governments of Central America in 2019 during his first term, but only Guatemala received migrants from Honduras and El Salvador. More than 900 Hondurans and Salvadorans were deported to Guatemala between November 2019 and March 2020 before the agreement was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Guatemala was not considered a safe country at the time of the 2019 agreement.

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Trump’s travel ban list

The travel ban affects travelers from the following countries:

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Afghanistan

Myanmar

Chad

Congo Republic

Equatorial Guinea

Eritrea

Haiti

Iran

Libya

Somalia

Sudan

Yemen

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Heightened restrictions on visitors from:

Burundi

Cuba

Laos

Sierra Leone

Togo

Turkmenistan

Venezuela

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Possible travel ban list

Angola

Antigua and Barbuda

Benin

Bhutan

Burkina Faso

Cabo Verde

Cambodia

Cameroon

Côte d’Ivoire

Democratic Republic of Congo

Djibouti

Dominica

Ethiopia

Egypt

Gabon

Gambia

Ghana

Kyrgyzstan

Liberia

Malawi

Mauritania

Niger

Nigeria

Saint Kitts and Nevis

Saint Lucia

São Tomé and Príncipe

Senegal

South Sudan

Syria

Tanzania

Tonga

Tuvalu

Uganda

Vanuatu

Zambia

Zimbabwe

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Jeff Abbott covers the border for the El Paso Times and can be reached at:jdabbott@gannett.com; @palabrasdeabajo on Twitter or @palabrasdeabajo.bsky.social on Bluesky.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Trump administration is considering adding 36 countries to travel ban