US President Donald Trump has announced that citizens of 12 countries would be banned from visiting the United States and those from seven others would face restrictions.
The countries include Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
In addition to the ban, which takes effect at 12:01 a.m. on Monday, there will be heightened restrictions on visitors from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.
“I must act to protect the national security and national interest of the United States and its people,” Trump said in his proclamation.
Ten of the 19 countries under the bans and restrictions are in Africa. The countries which include Sierra Leone, Togo, and Equatorial Guinea, are not known for hosting armed groups that pose a major threat to the West.
The list results from a Jan. 20 executive order Trump issued requiring the departments of State and Homeland Security and the Director of National Intelligence to compile a report on “hostile attitudes” toward the U.S. and whether entry from certain countries represented a national security risk.
During his first term, Trump issued an executive order in January 2017 banning travel to the U.S. by citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries — Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen.
The order, often referred to as the “Muslim ban” or the “travel ban,” was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2018.
