
Trump travel ban in effect, citizens from 12 nations barred from US
The move is expected to disrupt refugee pathways and further restrict immigration as the Trump administration expands its crackdown on illegal entries.
Many of the nations covered by the restrictions have adversarial relations with the United States, such as Iran and Afghanistan, while others face severe crises, like Haiti and Libya.
In announcing his restrictions last week, Trump said the new measure was spurred by a recent "terrorist attack" on Jews in Colorado.
The group had been protesting in solidarity with hostages held in Gaza when they were assaulted by a man the White House said had overstayed his visa.
That attack, Trump said, "underscored the extreme dangers posed to our country by the entry of foreign nationals who are not properly vetted" or who overstay their visas.
The move bans all travel to the United States by nationals of Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Congo-Brazzaville, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen, according to the White House.
Trump also imposed a partial ban on travelers from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela. Some temporary work visas from those countries will be allowed.
New countries could be added, Trump warned, "as threats emerge around the world."
Mehria, a 23-year-old woman from Afghanistan who applied for refugee status, said the new rules have trapped her and many other Afghans in uncertainty.
"We gave up thousands of hopes and our entire lives... on a promise from America, but today we are suffering one hell after another," she told AFP.
World Cup, Olympics, diplomats excluded
The ban will not apply to athletes competing in the 2026 World Cup, which the United States is co-hosting with Canada and Mexico, or in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, Trump's order said.
Nor will it apply to diplomats from the targeted countries.
United Nations rights chief Volker Turk warned that "the broad and sweeping nature of the new travel ban raises concerns from the perspective of international law."
US Democratic lawmakers and elected officials blasted the ban as draconian and unconstitutional.
"I know the pain that Trump's cruel and xenophobic travel bans inflict because my family has felt it firsthand," congresswoman Yassamin Ansari, who is Iranian-American, posted Sunday on X.
"We will fight this ban with everything we have."
Rumors of a new travel ban had circulated following the Colorado attack, with Trump's administration vowing to pursue "terrorists" living in the United States on visas.
US officials said suspect Mohamed Sabry Soliman, an Egyptian national according to court documents, was in the country illegally having overstayed a tourist visa, but that he had applied for asylum in September 2022.
Trump's new travel ban notably does not include Egypt.
His proclamation said Taliban-ruled Afghanistan and war-torn Libya, Sudan, Somalia and Yemen lacked "competent" central authorities for processing passports and vetting.
Iran was included because it is a "state sponsor of terrorism," the order said.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


France 24
27 minutes ago
- France 24
France eyes social media ban for under-15s after school stabbing
A secondary school pupil was arrested on Tuesday after killing a 31-year-old school assistant with a knife during a bag search in Nogent in eastern France. Friends and well-wishers left flowers and messages of support in front of the secondary school struck by the tragedy. "We share your pain," read one message. Laurence Raclot, who knew the teaching assistant, Melanie, said she was "stunned". "She was great with kids," Raclot said. "In a quiet little town, we never would have thought this could happen." A former hairdresser, Melanie had retrained and worked at the school since September. She was the mother of a four-year-old boy and a councillor in a village near Nogent. "There are no words," added another local, Sabrina Renault. "It's really sad for her whole family, for that little boy who's left without his mum." Pupils and parents were seen entering and leaving the school, where a psychological support unit has been set up. The suspect will remain in police custody for a further 24 hours, until Thursday morning, a police source told AFP on Wednesday. Little information has been released about his motive. - 'Cannot wait' - In the wake of the attack, authorities promised a raft of measures to tackle knife crime among children. "I am proposing banning social media for children under 15," President Emmanuel Macron said on X on Tuesday evening. "Platforms have the ability to verify age. Let's do it," he added. Backed by France and Spain, Greece has spearheaded a proposal for how the EU should limit children's use of online platforms as evidence shows that social media can have negative effects on children's mental and physical health. Macron said on Tuesday that if no progress was made within several months, then France would go ahead with the ban unilaterally. "We cannot wait," he told broadcaster France 2. France has in recent years seen several attacks on teachers and pupils by other schoolchildren. In March, police started random searches for knives and other weapons concealed in bags at and around schools. On Wednesday, Prime Minister Francois Bayrou's office said a ban on the sale of knives to minors will be implemented by a decree issued within the next two weeks. Speaking to broadcaster TF1 on Tuesday evening, Bayrou said that the measure would come into force "immediately". The list will include "any knife that can be used as a weapon", he said. He also said parents and educators should be watching for "signs that a teenager is not doing well", while acknowledging that there was a shortage of psychologists. Bayrou has also called for a trial of metal detectors in schools. Education Minister Elisabeth Borne called for a minute's silence to be held in all French schools at midday on Thursday to honour the memory of the teaching assistant. "The entire educational community is in shock, as is the whole nation," she told France Inter radio on Wednesday. Borne said she was "open to anything" to improve safety but added that ceramic blades would be invisible to metal detectors. She also said that young people should be protected from "overexposure to screens". But trade unions said they were not sure how these proposals would be implemented and enforced. "Teaching assistants have primarily educational duties within the school environment," said Sophie Venetitay, general secretary of the SNES-FSU teachers' union. But, she added, "little by little, we have seen attempts to turn them into security guards." Remy Reynaud of the CGT Educ'action union criticised the government's decision to introduce bag searches outside schools. "They increase tensions," he said. "School management are pressuring teaching assistants to participate in the searches, which is not part of their duties." © 2025 AFP


France 24
27 minutes ago
- France 24
'We have to try everything': Vanuatu envoy taking climate fight to ICJ
The landmark case has given Ralph Regenvanu a front row seat to history. As Vanuatu's environment minister, he has taken the decades-long climate fight by Pacific nations to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, hoping to safeguard their islands' survival. Regenvanu has called the case among the most consequential "in the history of humanity". A ruling could come as early as next month. This interview, conducted by AFP on the sidelines of the UN Ocean Conference in Nice, France, has been edited for length and clarity: Q: Why did Vanuatu go to the ICJ? A: "We thought it was necessary to take a legal approach to the issue of climate change because we feel that the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) process, which has been going for 30 years, has not done anywhere near enough. "We agreed to ramp down greenhouse gas emissions. We've seen the highest levels ever just recently. We've talked about climate finance. We haven't seen that. These pledges that were made in Paris? We've not seen them having any effect. "And so we wanted to see if we could get international law to actually start to impose some requirements." Q: Has it worked? "This request for an advisory opinion from the ICJ has been historic. It was the first request from the United Nations General Assembly for an advisory opinion that was unanimous. No country opposed requesting this. "It has also mobilised youth. There's this global climate justice movement of youth now, and we have many of them here (in Nice). It's really raised the consciousness and political savvy of youth to engage with these kinds of processes. "A lot of countries would talk about what they're doing on climate change. But when we got to the court, it became very clear that they weren't prepared to do what they were talking about. So it exposed the hypocrisy of a number of countries as well." Q: Do you think others will take the legal route? A: "We're going to have to do a far greater range of things outside these UN processes -- in courts, in each and every fora we can find, to push for real climate action. "We went to the International Tribunal of the Law of the Sea -- we got an advisory opinion. We're waiting for an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice on the same question: the obligations of states to prevent greenhouse gas emissions, and what are they consequences if they don't. "Along with Fiji and Samoa, we've submitted a resolution to the Rome Statute -- the International Criminal Court -- for a new crime of ecocide to be created. That's in process. "We will continue to call for the strongest action in all fora including this one, the United Nations Ocean Conference. "Anything and everything we can -- because what we're doing is not enough." Q: Why keep going if you're constantly disappointed? A: "Going to the climate COPs is a very depressing exercise. Last year, for example, Papua New Guinea said we aren't going anymore. I could perfectly understand that. "The problem is, when we're not at the table, we're on the menu. And so we have to be there, so people see us and realise -- and hopefully have a little bit of conscience -- that there are these people in the world who are going to perish as a result of your actions." Q: Why is this ocean summit important? "The ocean has been feeding us. It's been our spiritual home. It's been our highway. It has been the basis of our cultural heritage, our identity. We've been surviving off the ocean for as long as we've existed, which is thousands of years. "And we see the change, and the change is impacting us. We know that if we don't address climate change, greenhouse gas emissions, and if we don't take serious steps to reverse global warming, but also keep the biodiversity that has always been sustaining us, it threatens our very existence."

LeMonde
40 minutes ago
- LeMonde
Musk regrets some of his Trump criticisms, says they 'went too far'
Elon Musk, the world's richest person and Donald Trump's former advisor, said Wednesday, June 11, he regretted some of his recent criticisms of the US president, after the pair's public falling-out last week. "I regret some of my posts about President @realDonaldTrump last week. They went too far," Musk wrote on his social media platform X. Musk's expression of regret came just days after Trump threatened the tech billionaire with "serious consequences" if he sought to punish Republicans who vote for a controversial spending bill. Their blistering break-up – largely carried out on social media before a riveted public since Thursday last week – was ignited by Musk's harsh criticism of Trump's so-called "big, beautiful" spending bill, which is currently before Congress. Some lawmakers who were against the bill had called on Musk, one of the Republican Party's biggest financial backers in last year's presidential election, to fund primary challenges against Republicans who voted for the legislation. "He'll have to pay very serious consequences if he does that," Trump, who also branded Musk "disrespectful," told NBC News on Saturday, without specifying what those consequences would be. Trump also said he had "no" desire to repair his relationship with the South African-born Tesla and SpaceX chief, and that he has "no intention of speaking to him." In his post on Wednesday, Musk did not specify which of his criticisms of Trump had gone "too far." 'Wish him well' The former allies had seemed to have cut ties amicably about two weeks ago, with Trump giving Musk a glowing send-off as he left his cost-cutting role at the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). But their relationship cracked within days as Musk described the spending bill as an "abomination" that, if passed by Congress, could define Trump's second term in office. Trump hit back at Musk's comments in an Oval Office diatribe and from there the row detonated, leaving Washington stunned. "Look, Elon and I had a great relationship. I don't know if we will anymore. I was surprised," Trump told reporters. Musk, who was Trump's biggest donor to his 2024 campaign, also raised the issue of the Republican's election win. "Without me, Trump would have lost the election, Dems would control the House and the Republicans would be 51-49 in the Senate," he posted, adding: "Such ingratitude." Trump later said on his Truth Social platform that cutting billions of dollars in subsidies and contracts to Musk's companies would be the "easiest way" to save the US government money. US media have put the value of the contracts at $18 billion. With real political and economic risks to their falling out, both appeared to inch back from the brink on Friday, with Trump telling reporters "I just wish him well," and Musk responding on X: "Likewise." Trump had spoken to NBC on Saturday after Musk deleted one of the explosive allegations he had made during their fallout, linking the president with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. Musk had alleged that the Republican president is featured in unreleased government files on former associates of Epstein, who died by suicide in 2019 while he faced sex trafficking charges. Trump was named in a trove of deposition and statements linked to Epstein that were unsealed by a New York judge in early 2024. The president has not been accused of any wrongdoing in the case. "Time to drop the really big bomb: (Trump) is in the Epstein files," Musk posted on X. "That is the real reason they have not been made public." Musk did not reveal which files he was talking about and offered no evidence for his claim. He appeared to have deleted those tweets by Saturday morning.