President Trump signs travel ban targeting 12 countries with 'hostile attitudes' to the US

Yahoo

a day ago

President Trump has signed an order banning people from 12 countries from entering the US.
He said Sunday's had shown "the extreme dangers posed to our country by the entry of foreign nationals who are not properly vetted, as well as those who come as temporary visitors and overstay their visas".
"We will not allow people to enter our country who wish to do us harm," he said in a video statement.
The countries affected are: Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
The White House said they posed a "very high risk" to the US and had poor screening and vetting to identify dangerous individuals.
People from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela will also face partial restrictions.
Mr Trump's proclamation said America must ensure people entering don't have "hostile attitudes toward its citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles" - and don't support terror groups.
The move echoes a controversial executive order enacted eight years ago during his first term, when he banned people from predominately Muslim countries.
The countries initially targeted then were Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen.
said on Thursday that policy was a "key part of preventing major foreign terror attacks on American soil".
His new list adds more countries, but notably removes Syria after Mr Trump met the country's leader recently on a trip to the Middle East.
Athletes and their coaches competing in the 2026 World Cup and the 2028 Olympics, both of which are taking place in the US, will be exempt.
Permanent US residents and existing visa holders are also among those unaffected.
The list was put together after the president asked homeland security officials and the director of national intelligence to compile a report on countries whose citizens could pose a threat to the US.
The ban takes effect from 9 June but countries could be removed or added.
The proclamation states it will be reviewed within 90 days, and every 180 days after, to decide if it should be "continued, terminated, modified, or supplemented".
"These commonsense restrictions are country-specific and include places that lack proper vetting, exhibit high visa overstay rates, or fail to share identity and threat information," said White House deputy press secretary Abigail Jackson.
President Trump's first travel restrictions in 2017 were criticised by opponents and human rights groups as a "Muslim ban".
It led to some chaotic scenes, including tourists, students and business travellers prevented from boarding planes - or held at US airports when they landed.
Mr Trump denied it was Islamophobic despite calling for a ban on Muslims entering America in his first presidential campaign.
It faced legal challenges and was modified until the Supreme Court upheld a third version of it in June 2018, with judges calling it "squarely within the scope of presidential authority".