United States President, Donald Trump, has issued a wide-ranging executive order enforcing a complete travel ban on nationals from 12 countries and placing tighter restrictions on citizens from an additional seven nations, the White House confirmed.
The nations facing an outright travel ban are, Afghanistan, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Myanmar, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen.
Meanwhile, citizens of Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela will be subjected to increased entry restrictions.
“I must act to protect the national security and national interest of the United States and its people,” Trump stated in the directive.
The executive order is scheduled to take effect at 12:01 a.m. local time in Washington, DC (04:01 GMT) on Monday, June 9, 2025. Visas already issued before that date will remain valid and unaffected, according to the document.
In a video message shared by the White House, President Trump cited a recent violent incident at a pro-Israel rally in Boulder, Colorado, as a catalyst for the new measures.
He argued the attack exposed the risks of inadequately screened foreign nationals entering the United States.
“We will not let what happened in Europe happen to America,” he said. “Very simply, we cannot have open migration from any country where we cannot safely and reliably vet and screen those who seek to enter the United States.”
“We will not allow people to enter our country who wish to do us harm,” he added.
Trump further claimed, “There are millions and millions of these illegals who should not be in our country.”
Addressing the inclusion of countries such as Yemen, Somalia, Haiti, and Libya, Trump reiterated, “We cannot have open migration from any country where we cannot safely and reliably vet and screen… That is why today I am signing a new executive order placing travel restrictions on countries including Yemen, Somalia, Haiti, Libya, and numerous others.”
This new directive echoes Trump’s controversial “Muslim ban” from his first term in 2017, which initially barred travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries. That version faced numerous legal challenges before the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a revised version in 2018.
The approved order restricted travel from Iran, Somalia, Yemen, Syria, and Libya, along with North Korean nationals and certain Venezuelan officials and their relatives.
At the time, Trump justified the travel restrictions on national security grounds, denying it was rooted in anti-Muslim sentiment, despite previously calling for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States” during his 2016 campaign.
In a separate move on Wednesday, Trump also signed an executive order suspending entry into the U.S. for foreign nationals seeking to study or engage in academic programs at Harvard University. He accused the institution of maintaining “a history of concerning foreign ties and radicalism.”
The order mandates the State Department to “consider revoking” the academic or exchange visas of any current Harvard students “who meet the Proclamation’s criteria.”
An internal U.S. diplomatic cable obtained by Reuters last month revealed that consular missions abroad had already been instructed to implement stricter screening for visa applicants intending to study at Harvard.
Harvard University has pushed back, accusing the Trump administration of retaliation after the university refused to accept federal intervention in its internal governance, curriculum, and academic freedom.
The visa clampdown follows earlier punitive measures against Harvard, including suspending access to billions in grants, revoking tax-exempt status, and launching a probe into alleged discrimination against white, Asian, male, or heterosexual applicants and staff.
Although a Boston federal court recently blocked a move by the administration to prevent Harvard from enrolling foreign students, Trump’s latest executive order leverages a separate legal justification, according to the Associated Press.
