Trump Travel Order Bans People From 12 Countries From Entering U.S.

President Trump on Wednesday signed a travel ban on 12 countries, primarily in Africa and the Middle East, resurrecting an effort from his first term to prevent large numbers of immigrants and visitors from entering the United States.

The ban, which goes into effect on Monday, bars travel to the United States by citizens of Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.

Mr. Trump also imposed restrictions — but stopped short of a full ban — on travel from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela. People from those countries cannot come to the United States permanently or get tourist or student visas.

The travel ban is the latest move in Mr. Trump’s sweeping crackdown on immigration, including blocking asylum at the southern border and barring international students from Harvard University. His administration has also conducted immigration raids across the country.

The decision came just days after an Egyptian man in Colorado was arrested and charged with carrying out an attack on a group honoring hostages being held in Gaza. Trump administration officials had warned that there would be a crackdown after that attack.

“The recent terror attack in Boulder, Colo., has underscored the extreme dangers posed to our country by the entry of foreign nationals who are not properly vetted, as well as those who come here as temporary visitors and overstay their visas,” Mr. Trump said in a video message announcing the travel ban. “We don’t want them.”

Mr. Trump has long railed against migration from Muslim-majority countries. During his first presidential campaign, he proposed a full ban on Muslims entering the country. In his video message, Mr. Trump alluded to increased migration into Europe in the last decade.

“We will not let what happened in Europe happen to America,” he said.

During Mr. Trump’s first term, he tried to enforce two versions of a travel ban, but courts blocked them. The Supreme Court eventually permitted a rewritten ban — one that affected citizens from eight nations, six of them predominantly Muslim — to take effect.

The list later evolved. His first travel ban inspired mass protests and chaos at airports across the United States. At one point, the homeland security secretary had to clarify that green card holders from the banned countries could enter the United States.

President Joseph R. Biden Jr. revoked Mr. Trump’s travel bans soon after he took office in 2021, calling them “a stain on our national conscience” and “inconsistent with our long history of welcoming people of all faiths and no faith at all.”

Mr. Trump signaled his intent to usher in a new version of a travel ban in a Day 1 executive order in January, ordering the secretary of state, alongside other top government leaders, to review the screening capabilities of countries and to recommend whether migration from those areas should be blocked.

The order refers to issues with security vetting from the countries banned, but also mentions other issues like immigrants from those places overstaying their visas or the countries refusing to take back their nationals.

Mr. Trump’s order frames the reasoning for restricting travel as necessary because of national security threats, but critics say that the order discriminates against people based on their ethnicity alone.

“This discriminatory policy, which limits legal immigration, not only flies in the face of what our country is supposed to stand for — it will be harmful to our economy and our communities that rely on the contributions of people who come to America from this wide range of countries,” Representative Pramila Jayapal, Democrat of Washington, said in a statement.