new York, June 5, 2025 (NAN) U.S. President Donald Trump signed a proclamation on Wednesday evening banning citizens of 12 countries from entering the United States.
The affected countries are Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen.
According to the proclamation, nationals from these countries will be “fully” restricted from entering the U.S.
Similarly, the United States of America will restrict the entry of nationals of Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela will be partially restricted.
The proclamation becomes effective on June 9, 2025, at 12:01 a.m. EDT (5:01 a.m. Nigerian time).
Trump said the move was needed to protect the U.S. against “foreign terrorists” and other security threats.
“We will not allow people to enter our country who wish to do us harm,” Trump said in a video posted on X.
President Trump said he may still revise the list, and new countries could be added.
He said the countries that are subject to the most severe restrictions were determined to harbour a “large-scale presence of terrorists.”
He alleged others failed to cooperate on visa security, could not verify travellers’ identities, kept inadequate records of criminal histories, and had high rates of visa overstays in the U.S.
“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,” Trump said.
Trump’s directive is part of an immigration crackdown that he launched at the start of his second term, pledging to restrict people from the Gaza Strip, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Yemen and “anywhere else that threatens our security.”
On January 20, Trump issued an executive order requiring intensified security vetting of foreigners seeking admission to the U.S. to detect national security threats.
That order directed several cabinet members to submit a list of countries where travel should be partly or wholly suspended because their “vetting and screening information is so deficient.”
During his first term in office, Trump announced a ban on travellers from seven countries, a policy that generated many controversies before it was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2018.
However, former President Joe Biden, who succeeded Trump, repealed the ban in 2021, calling it “a stain on our national conscience.”