Trump Plans to Impose Travel Ban on Citizens of 43 Countries

Trump Plans to Impose Travel Ban on Citizens of 43 Countries

Washington, March 16: Former U.S. President Donald Trump's administration had planned to impose travel bans on citizens from nearly 43 countries, according to a confidential document revealed by the Associated Press.

The document categorized these countries into three separate groups, based on which full or partial visa suspensions were planned.

List of Full Visa Suspensions:

The first category included 10 countries whose citizens would have faced a complete visa ban. This list included Afghanistan, Iran, Syria, Cuba, and North Korea, among others.

List of Partial Visa Suspensions:

The second category included five countries—Eritrea, Haiti, Laos, Myanmar, and South Sudan—that would have faced visa restrictions, particularly on tourist, student, and immigrant visas, with some exceptions.

Watchlist for Potential Visa Restrictions:

The third category consisted of 26 countries, including Belarus, Pakistan, and Turkmenistan, whose citizens would have faced partial visa suspensions if their governments failed to address specific security deficiencies within 60 days.

Plan Not Yet Approved:

The proposed travel ban has not yet been approved by the U.S. administration and remains under review by various officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, intelligence agencies, and embassy officials.

In 2017, the Trump administration had previously imposed a travel ban on citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. Additionally, all Syrian refugees were barred from entering the U.S., triggering mass protests and legal challenges across the country.

In 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a revised version of the travel ban with a 5-4 ruling. Later, in 2020, the Trump administration expanded visa restrictions to six more countries—Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Nigeria, Sudan, and Tanzania.

The U.S. administration justified these bans as necessary for national security, aiming to prevent "terrorist activities, abuse of the U.S. immigration system, or the promotion of extremist ideologies."

However, these restrictions sparked significant legal debates and criticism from human rights organizations, potentially influencing future U.S. immigration policies.