Trump Issues New Travel Ban Affecting 12 Countries, Threatens 36 Restrictions

President Donald Trump has issued a new travel ban, but this isn’t his first time placing travel restrictions on flyers. In 2017, when Trump was first settling into the White House, he dropped a bomb on international travel. He signed an executive order that sparked protests at airports and fear across immigrant communities. This move, known as the “Muslim Ban,” blocked people from several majority-Muslim countries from entering the United States.

The original order targeted travelers from seven countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. That list later got shuffled — Iraq was taken off, and others like Chad, North Korea, and Venezuela were added to different versions of the ban. When President Joe Biden took office in 2021, one of his first moves was to reverse the ban. He signed a proclamation ending the discriminatory policy, calling it “a stain on our national conscience.”

Trump is now serving his second term as president and issuing a new travel ban. Here is a look at which countries the president is targeting.

Donald Trump’s travel ban affects 12 countries.

President Trump signed a proclamation on June 4, 2025, that imposed a full travel ban on 12 countries and partial restrictions on seven more, starting June 9. He framed it as a national security move, citing red flags like “deficient screening,” visa overstays, and terrorism ties.

The new ban blocks immigration and most travel from 12 countries outright:

• Afghanistan
• Burma
• Chad
• Republic of the Congo
• Equatorial Guinea
• Eritrea
• Haiti
• Iran
• Libya
• Somalia
• Sudan
• Yemen

Another seven countries, including Venezuela, Cuba, and Turkmenistan, face heavy restrictions. The administration claims it’s all about national security and screening standards, but let’s be real — this smells a lot like 2017 all over again, just with new packaging.

More countries could be added to Trump’s travel ban list.

On June 17, Trump issued a warning to 36 more countries — predominantly in Africa. He suggested that they could also face severe travel restrictions. According to AP, the Trump administration has issued a diplomatic directive giving the countries 60 days to demonstrate improvements in passport security, identity verification, and repatriation procedures for their nationals residing illegally in the United States. If they fail to meet these benchmarks, they risk full or partial travel restrictions. This would expand Trump’s policy, which already targets 12 countries.

Key U.S. partners — including Egypt, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Liberia, and Djibouti — are on notice, as are politically unstable or low-capacity states such as Syria and the Republic of the Congo.

Tammy Bruce, the State Department’s spokesperson, did not share many details when asked about the directive. However, she suggested that the administration wants those countries to level up their vetting game for passport holders.

“We’re looking at providing a period of time, (where if countries) don’t get to that point where we can trust them and they’ve got to change the system, update it, do whatever they need to do to convince us that we can trust the process and the information they have,” Bruce said.

Why do you think so many of the targeted countries are in Africa and the Middle East? Comment below!

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