WASHINGTON, June 9: President Donald Trump’s new ban on travel to the US by citizens from 12 mainly African and Middle Eastern countries took effect on Monday.

The new proclamation, which Trump signed on Wednesday, also imposes new travel restrictions on people from seven additional countries who are outside the US and don’t have a valid visa.

The new ban does not revoke visas previously issued to people from countries on the list, which include Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.

The new visa restrictions apply to people from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela. (AP)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s new ban on travel to the U.S. by citizens from 12 mainly African and Middle Eastern countries took effect Monday amid rising tension over the president’s escalating campaign of immigration enforcement.

The new proclamation, which Trump signed last week, applies to citizens of Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. It also imposes heightened restrictions on people from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela who are outside the U.S. and don’t hold a valid visa.

The new ban does not revoke visas previously issued to people from countries on the list, according to guidance issued Friday to all U.S. diplomatic missions. However, unless an applicant meets narrow criteria for an exemption to the ban, his or her application will be rejected starting Monday. Travelers with previously issued visas should still be able to enter the U.S. even after the ban takes effect.

During Trump’s first term, a hastily written executive order ordering the denial of entry to citizens of mainly Muslim countries created chaos at numerous airports and other ports of entry, prompting successful legal challenges and major revisions to the policy.

No such disruption was immediately discernible at Los Angeles International Airport in the hours after the new ban took effect.

Haitian-American Elvanise Louis-Juste, who was at the airport earlier Sunday in Newark, New Jersey, awaiting a flight to her home state of Florida, said many Haitians wanting to come to the U.S. are simply seeking to escape violence and unrest.

“I have family in Haiti, so it’s pretty upsetting to see and hear,” Louis-Juste, 23, said of the travel ban. “I don’t think it’s a good thing. I think it’s very upsetting.”

Many immigration experts say the new ban is more carefully crafted and appears designed to beat court challenges that hampered the first by focusing on the visa application process.

Trump said this time that some countries had “deficient” screening for passports and other public documents or have historically refused to take back their own citizens. He relied extensively on an annual Homeland Security report of people who remain in the U.S. after their visas expired.

Measuring overstay rates has challenged experts for decades, but the government has made a limited attempt annually since 2016. Trump’s proclamation cites overstay rates for eight of the 12 banned countries.

Trump also tied the new ban to a terrorist attack in Boulder, Colorado, saying it underscored the dangers posed by some visitors who overstay visas. U.S. officials say the man charged in the attack overstayed a tourist visa. He is from Egypt, a country that is not on Trump’s restricted list.

The ban was quickly denounced by groups that provide aid and resettlement help to refugees.

“This policy is not about national security — it is about sowing division and vilifying communities that are seeking safety and opportunity in the United States,” said Abby Maxman, president of Oxfam America, a nonprofit international relief organization.

The inclusion of Afghanistan angered some supporters who have worked to resettle its people. The ban does make 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 had been 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.

Ban comes amid rising tensions over the US president’s escalating campaign of immigration enforcement

US President Donald Trump’s sweeping new travel ban came into effect early Monday immediately after midnight, barring citizens from a dozen nations from entering the United States and reviving a divisive measure from his first term.

The move was expected to disrupt refugee pathways and further restrict immigration as the Trump administration expands its crackdown on illegal entries.

Many of the nations covered by the restrictions have adversarial relations with the United States, such as Iran and Afghanistan, while others face severe crises, like Haiti and Libya.

In announcing his restrictions last week, Trump said the new measure was spurred by a recent “terrorist attack” on Jews in Colorado.

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The group had been protesting in solidarity with hostages held in Gaza when they were assaulted by a man the White House said had overstayed his visa.

That attack, Trump said, “underscored the extreme dangers posed to our country by the entry of foreign nationals who are not properly vetted” or who overstay their visas.

The move bans all travel to the United States by nationals of Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, also known as Congo-Brazzaville, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen, according to the White House.

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Trump also imposed a partial ban on travellers from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela. Some temporary work visas from those countries will be allowed.

New countries could be added, Trump warned: “as threats emerge around the world”.

Mehria, a 23-year-old woman from Afghanistan who applied for refugee status, said the new rules have trapped her and many other Afghans in uncertainty.

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“We gave up thousands of hopes and our entire lives … on a promise from America, but today we are suffering one hell after another,” she said.

The ban would not apply to athletes competing in the 2026 World Cup, which the United States is co-hosting with Canada and Mexico, or in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, Trump’s order said.

Nor would it apply to diplomats from the targeted countries.

United Nations rights chief Volker Turk warned that “the broad and sweeping nature of the new travel ban raises concerns from the perspective of international law”.

US Democratic lawmakers and elected officials blasted the ban as draconian and unconstitutional.

“I know the pain that Trump’s cruel and xenophobic travel bans inflict because my family has felt it firsthand,” congresswoman Yassamin Ansari, who is Iranian-American, posted Sunday on X.

“We will fight this ban with everything we have.”

Rumours of a new travel ban had circulated following the Colorado attack, with Trump’s administration vowing to pursue “terrorists” living in the United States on visas.

US officials said suspect Mohamed Sabry Soliman, an Egyptian national according to court documents, was in the country illegally having overstayed a tourist visa, but that he had applied for asylum in September 2022.

Trump’s new travel ban notably does not include Egypt.

His proclamation said Taliban-ruled Afghanistan and war-torn Libya, Sudan, Somalia and Yemen lacked “competent” central authorities for processing passports and vetting.

Iran was included because it is a “state sponsor of terrorism”, the order said.

For the other countries, Trump’s order cited an above-average likelihood that people would overstay their visas.

Additional reporting by Associated Press

President Donald Trump’s new ban on travel to the US by citizens from 12 mainly African and Middle Eastern countries took effect on Monday.

The new proclamation, which Trump signed on Wednesday, also imposes new travel restrictions on people from seven additional countries who are outside the US and don’t have a valid visa.

Also read

The new ban does not revoke visas previously issued to people from countries on the list, which include Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.

The new visa restrictions apply to people from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.

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Published on June 9, 2025