From Monday, citizens from 12 countries – Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Congo-Brazzaville, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen – will be banned from travelling to the US.
Those from another seven countries – Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela – will be subject to a partial ban.
For most countries included on the list, the White House cites a mixture of visa overstay rates and political instability.
The sole reason mentioned for the bans affecting Congo-Brazzaville, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Burundi, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo and Turkmenistan, for example, are the percentage of people overstaying their US visa.
Other reasons frequently cited include nations previously not accepting “removable nationals”, criticism of the authorities which issue passports in the country, or an inability to access criminal records of migrants.
Security concerns are also cited in the proclamation. The White House accuses Iran and Cuba of being a “state sponsor of terrorism”, says there is a “historical terrorist presence” in Libya, and calls Somalia “a terrorist safe haven”.
Meanwhile for Haiti, the proclamation says “hundreds of thousands of illegal Haitian aliens flooded into the United States during the Biden administration”, which it says “harms American communities”.
The White House says the travel ban will come into effect at 00:01 EST (05:01 BST) on 9 June – just under four days time.
It adds that key government officials will “immediately engage” with the countries affected by the order, “on measures that must be taken to comply with United States screening, vetting, immigration, and security requirements”.
During his first term in the White House, Trump ordered a travel ban against people from seven Muslim-majority countries from coming to the US.
Critics called it a “Muslim ban”, and the order faced several legal challenges.
It was amended several times before being upheld by the Supreme Court in 2018. Trump’s successor Joe Biden repealed the order in 2021.
But this time around it’s a savvier version.
Last time a crucial question in the legal battle over the bill was whether it discriminated against travellers based on their religion.
This time, the order doesn’t just target majority Muslim nations. Trump says the rationale for the countries chosen is based on visa overstay rates or political instability.
There are some similarities in the nations chosen. Iran, Libya and Somalia are among those featuring on both lists.
However there is a difference in how long the policy is due to last. Last time it was only 90 to 120 days, but today’s has no end date.
With agency report
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