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The Trump administration signed a proclamation Wednesday that imposed a travel ban to the U.S. for citizens from 12 countries: Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
Citing national security interests, the proclamation states that the identified countries lack sufficient vetting and screening processes needed to detect foreign nationals who may pose safety or terrorism threats to the U.S.
The proclamation also partially restricted entrance for nationals of seven other countries: Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.
Other considerations include a country’s information-sharing policies, presence of terrorists, visa overstay rates and whether citizens who are sent back are readily accepted, it said.
The ban is set to take effect on Monday at 12:01 a.m. ET.
In a video released by the White House Wednesday night, Trump said that on his first day in office, he directed the secretary of state to perform a security review of “high-risk regions” to make travel restriction recommendations.
He also cited the Sunday attack on Jewish protestors in Boulder, Colorado in the video. The man charged in the attack, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, is an Egyptian national. Egypt is not named in the new travel ban.
That ban was later ended by President Joe Biden in 2021.
The new policy applies to foreigners from the named countries who are outside of the United States and who lack visas to enter as of Monday, June 9.
Certain travelers are excepted from the rule, it states, including U.S. permanent residents, athletes traveling to attend major sporting events, and immediate family members with “clear and convincing evidence of identity and family relationship,” citing DNA as an example.
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