The U.S. "Muslim Ban" Reactivated

"[The U.S. Departments of State and Homeland Security, and director of national intelligence given orders to compile report on] hostile attitudes [toward the United States]."

"[To] protect its citizens from aliens who intend to commit terrorist attacks, threaten our national security, espouse hateful ideology, or otherwise exploit the immigration laws for malevolent purposes." 

Trump administration

 

"[The  U.S.] is a dangerous country where human rights of immigrants are nonexistent."

"If you are thinking about travelling, cancel your plans immediately."

Venezuelan Foreign Ministry 

 

"[There is concern about] the potential negative impact [of the ban on educational exchanges, business ties and broader diplomatic relations]."

"The African Union Commission respectfully calls upon the U.S. administration to consider adopting a more consultative approach and to engage in constructive dialogue with the countries concerned."

African Union Commission

 

 

Citizens of a dozen countries -- primarily from Africa and the Middle East -- have now once again been banned from entering the United States, in a renewal of the original banning from the first Trump administration. Citizens of Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen have been swept into the wide-cast net that the policy of restricted entry embraces.

 

And nor may citizens of Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela, outside the United States and without valid visas, feel themselves free to enter the U.S. The Council on American-Islamic Relations, the largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy group in the U.S. spoke of the order as "unnecessary, overbroad and ideologically motivated". Whether indeed it is unnecessary, overbroad and ideologically motivated is, of course, a matter for the United States to determine and none others.

 

The newly-restrictive ban reworked for the second Trump administration linked the ban to the Boulder, Colorado terrorist attack, stating as an example it perfectly underscored dangers inherent in admitting some visitors who tend to overstay their visas. While the country that the attack suspect is from was not included on the restricted list, the intention is clear. Nationals of countries on the ban list pose "terrorism-related" and "public-safety" risks, stated President Trump.

 

Some of the listed countries had "deficient" screening and vetting or have historically refused to take back their own citizens, the president elaborated. An annual Homeland Security report of visa overstays of tourists, business visitors and students who arrive by air and sea, formed the basis for the Trump contention. Countries with high percentages of those remaining in the United States despite overstaying their visas were singled out. "We don't want them", Mr. Trump asserted baldly.

 

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks as he attends a "Summer Soiree" held on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 4, 2025. REUTERS/Leah Millis

 

If authorities of designated countries are able to demonstrate commitment to "material improvements" to their own rules and procedures, the list can be altered according to the administration. Alternately, "as threats emerge around the world", countries can be added. "This policy is not about national security -- it is about sowing division and vilifying communities that are seeking safety and opportunity in the United States" responded the president of Oxfam America.

 

During President Trump's first term in office, an executive order was issued in 2017 banning travel to the U.S. by citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries including Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen. Given the ongoing conflicts there of sectarian and tribal origins, where the unifying feature would be identified as contempt for western democracy and all of those countries' violent antipathy to a Jewish state in the Middle East which happens to be a primary ally, the ban is explicable. 

 

Once again, travellers from the banned countries will be barred from flights to the U.S., or detained at U.S. airports after landing. The impact will include students and academic faculty along with business people, tourists and those visiting friends and family domiciled in the US.  The original ban had been upheld in 2018 by the Supreme Court. At that time the ban applied to travellers and immigrants in various categories from Iran, Somalia, Yemen, Syria and Libya along with North Koreans and included some Venezuelan government officials.

 

Exempt From the Ban:

1. Green card holders
2. Dual citizens, including U.S. citizens who also have citizenship of one of the banned countries
3. Some athletes: athletes and their coaches traveling to the U.S. for the World Cup, Olympics or other major sporting event as determined by the U.S. secretary of state
4. Afghans who worked for the U.S. government or its allies in Afghanistan and are holders of Afghan special immigrant visas
5. Iranians belonging to an ethnic or religious minority who are fleeing prosecution
6. Certain foreign national employees of the U.S. government who have served abroad for at least 15 years, and their spouses and children
7. People who were granted asylum or admitted to the U.S. as refugees before the ban took effect
8. People with U.S. family members who apply for visas in connection to their spouses, children or parents
9. Diplomats and foreign government officials on official visits
10. Those traveling to U.N. headquarters in New York solely on official U.N. business
11. Representatives of international organizations and NATO on official visits in the U.S.
12. Children adopted by U.S. citizens
13. People from targeted countries who already have valid visas, although the Department of Homeland Security still has the authority to deny entry, even to those with a valid visa 

Muslims pray to mark celebrations of Eid al-Adha at a mosque June 7, 2025, in Yangon, Myanmar, one of the nations impacted by the travel ban. | Thein Zaw/AP