IPNEWS: President Trump has placed significant travel and immigration restrictions on citizens of 19 countries, primarily in Africa and Asia, and is considering expanding the ban to dozens more.
These actions have also included a freeze on processing various immigration applications for nationals of these countries.
Nationals from the following 12 countries face a full suspension of entry into the U.S., barring them from most immigrant and non-immigrant visas:
- Afghanistan
- Myanmar (Burma)
- Chad
- Republic of the Congo (DRC)
- Equatorial Guinea
- Eritrea
- Haiti
- Iran
- Libya
- Somalia
- Sudan
- Yemen
Citizens from the following seven countries face partial restrictions, banning them from all immigrant visas and certain non-immigrant visas (such as for tourism, study, and exchange visitor programs):
- Burundi
- Cuba
- Laos
- Sierra Leone
- Togo
- Turkmenistan
- Venezuela
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has paused the processing of various immigration benefits, including green card and naturalization applications, for individuals from all 19 affected countries.
The administration has initiated a review of all asylum approvals and green cards granted to citizens of “countries of concern” during the previous administration.
The Department of Homeland Security is reportedly considering adding as many as 36 more countries to the travel restriction list, primarily in sub-Saharan Africa, in the near future.
President Trump announced in a social media post his intention to “permanently pause” migration from all “Third World Countries,” a phrase generally referring to developing nations, though a specific list was not immediately provided.
These measures are part of an escalated crackdown on immigration and have followed a recent shooting incident involving an Afghan national in Washington, D.C..
