World reacts to Trump's travel ban, hits several nations mired in conflict

Al Jazeera

2 days ago

Donald Trump has signed an executive order banning citizens from 12 countries from entering the country in a move he said was to protect the US from 'foreign terrorists', mirroring a contentious policy from his first term as United States president.
As part of Trump's intensified crackdown on immigration, a cornerstone of his previous time in the White House and on the campaign trail, he announced on Wednesday that nationals from 12 countries – Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen – will be banned.
Seven countries will also be subject to partial restrictions, which will mean they will no longer be able to apply for immigrant or non-immigrant temporary visas. However, some temporary work visas will still be allowed.
Trump cited an attack in Boulder, Colorado, where a man threw a petrol bomb into a crowd of pro-Israel demonstrators, as proof of the need for immigration curbs.
'The recent terror attack in Boulder, Colorado, has underscored the extreme dangers posed to our country by the entry of foreign nationals who are not properly vetted,' Trump said in a video message from the Oval Office posted on X.
'We don't want them,' he added.
This latest travel ban follows Trump's executive order during his first term, in which he banned nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries, also known as the 'Muslim ban,' in 2017.
Seven of the countries on the new list of those banned also have Muslim-majority populations and several are beset by ongoing conflicts.
Despite the new suspensions, the ban will not apply to existing visa holders, foreign diplomats, athletes and their teams, among other exemptions.
The ban is expected to come into effect on June 9 at 12:01 am EDT (04:01 GMT).
Here's how the world has reacted to the ban.
The AU, which has seven of the 12 nations on the travel ban list, said the ban would harm 'people-to-people ties, educational exchange, commercial engagement, and broader diplomatic relations' that were built with the US over past decades.
'The African Union Commission respectfully calls upon the US
administration to consider adopting a more consultative approach and to engage in constructive dialogue with the countries concerned,' the bloc said in a statement.
President of Oxfam America, Abby Maxman, said the decision was not about 'national security'. 'It is about sowing division and vilifying communities that are seeking safety and opportunity in the United States,' Maxman said.
The Somali ambassador to the US, Dahir Hassan Abdi, said in a statement that Mogadishu 'values its longstanding relationship with the United States'. '[Somalia] stands ready to engage in dialogue to address the concerns raised,' Abdi said.
Interior minister Diosdado Cabello described the ban as a 'great risk for anyone, not just Venezuelans'. 'They persecute our countrymen, our people, for no reason,' he said. Venezuelan migrants in the US have been targeted by the Trump administration for deportation to El Salvador, many on unproven allegations of being gang members.