New Trump Travel Ban Targets Similar Countries as in 2017

On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump will be resurrecting a policy known from his first term. Trump on Wednesday signed a proclamation banning travelers from 12 countries, including those from four Muslim-majority nations he targeted with his infamous "Muslim ban" between 2017 and 2021. A full ban on visitors will apply once more to citizens of Iran, Libya, Somalia and Yemen well as those from Afghanistan, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Haiti, Chad, Sudan, Eritrea and Myanmar. The latter two countries had also received such a ban from January 2020 to January 2021, while for Sudan, visitor entries had been banned between January and September 2017 and for Chad from January 2017 to April 2018.

As part of travel bans in Trump's first term, visitor entries had also been banned from North Korea and Syria as well as from Kygrystan and Nigeria between January 2020 and January 2021. The orders had also included additional restrictions for more countries like bans from the visa lottery and bans on visits from government employees. Trump will once more add additional restrictions on visitors from seven countries - Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.

In 2017, the ban had caused chaos at airports. It remains to be seen if this term's longer notice of around five days will change this. While the Trump administration said it based its selection of countries on a Department of Homeland Security report detailing visa overstay rates, human rights organizations comdemned the blanket bans, especially those on Afghan nationals, many of whom assisted the U.S. military during the recent war in the country.