Trump expands travel ban and restrictions to include an additional 20 countries : NPR

President Donald Trump speaks during a presentation of the Mexican Border Defense Medal in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, Dec. 15, 2025, in Washington.

Alex Brandon/AP

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Alex Brandon/AP

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration announced Tuesday that it is expanding travel restrictions to 20 additional countries and the Palestinian Authority, doubling the number of countries affected by draconian limits announced earlier this year on who can travel to and emigrate to the United States.

The Trump administration added five additional countries as well as people traveling with documents issued by the Palestinian Authority to the list of countries facing a total ban on travel to the United States and imposed new limits on 15 other countries.

The move is part of the administration’s ongoing effort to strengthen U.S. travel and immigration entry standards, which critics say unfairly prevent people from a wide range of countries from traveling. The administration suggested it would expand restrictions after the arrest of an Afghan national suspected of shooting two National Guard soldiers over Thanksgiving weekend.

Individuals who already have a visa, who are legal permanent residents of the United States or who hold certain visa categories, such as diplomats or athletes, or whose entry into the country is intended to further the interests of the United States, are all exempt from these restrictions. The proclamation says the changes will take effect on January 1.

In June, President Donald Trump announced that citizens of 12 countries would be barred from coming to the United States and those of seven other countries would be subject to restrictions. This decision resurrected a landmark policy from his first term.

At the time, the ban covered Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen, and it strengthened restrictions on visitors from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.

On Tuesday, the Republican administration announced it was expanding the list of countries whose citizens are barred from entering the United States to include Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, South Sudan and Syria. The administration also completely restricted travel by people with Palestinian Authority-issued travel documents, the latest U.S. travel restriction against Palestinians. South Sudan was also already facing significant travel restrictions.

Fifteen additional countries are also added to the list of countries subject to partial restrictions: Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Ivory Coast, Dominica, Gabon, Gambia, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Tonga, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The restrictions apply to both those wishing to travel to the United States as visitors and to emigrate there.

The Trump administration said in its announcement that many countries from which it restricted travel had “widespread corruption, fraudulent or unreliable civil documents and criminal records” that made it difficult to vet their citizens for travel to the United States.

It also said some countries were experiencing a high rate of people overstaying their visas, refusing to take back their citizens whom the United States wanted to expel, or suffering from a “general lack of stability and government control,” making monitoring difficult. He also cited immigration control, foreign policy and national security concerns to justify the decision.

The Afghan man accused of shooting two National Guard soldiers near the White House has pleaded not guilty to murder and assault charges. Following this incident, the administration announced a series of immigration restrictions, including new restrictions on people from the original 19 countries who were already in the United States.

News of the travel ban expansion will likely face fierce opposition from critics who say the administration is using national security concerns to collectively exclude people from a wide range of countries.

“This expanded ban is not about national security but rather another shameful attempt to demonize people simply because of where they come from,” said Laurie Ball Cooper, vice president for U.S. legal programs at the International Refugee Assistance Project.

Advocates for Afghans who supported the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan for two decades also sounded the alarm Tuesday, saying the updated travel ban no longer contains an exception for Afghans eligible for the special immigrant visa. This is a visa category specifically reserved for Afghans who have contributed closely to the American war effort at the risk of their lives.

No One Left Behind, a longtime agency that advocates for the special immigrant visa program, said it was “deeply concerned” about the change. The organization said it appreciates the president’s commitment to national security, but allowing Afghans who have served the United States to enter the United States — after extensive screening — also helps keep the country safe.

“While intended to allow for examination of inconsistent vetting processes, this policy change inadvertently restricts those who are among the most rigorously vetted in our history: the wartime allies targeted by the terrorists this proclamation seeks to target,” the organization said in a statement.

Countries newly added to the list of banned or restricted countries said late Tuesday they were evaluating the news. The government of the island nation of Dominica in the Caribbean Sea said it was treating the matter with the “utmost seriousness and urgency” and was contacting U.S. officials to clarify the meaning of the restrictions and resolve any issues.

Antigua and Barbuda’s ambassador to the United States, Ronald Saunders, said “the matter was quite serious” and that he would seek more information from U.S. officials regarding the new restrictions.

The Trump administration also tightened restrictions on some countries — Laos and Sierra Leone — that were previously on the partially restricted list, and in one case — Turkmenistan — said the country had improved enough to warrant easing some restrictions on travelers from that country. All remainder of the previous travel restrictions announced in June remain in effect, the administration said.

The new restrictions on Palestinians come months after the administration imposed limits that make it nearly impossible for anyone with a Palestinian Authority passport to receive travel documents to travel to the United States for business, employment, leisure or educational purposes. Tuesday’s announcement goes further, banning people with Palestinian Authority passports from immigrating to the United States.

To justify its decision Tuesday, the administration said that several “U.S.-designated terrorist groups are actively operating in the West Bank or Gaza Strip and have murdered U.S. citizens.” The administration also said the recent war in these areas had “likely resulted in compromised monitoring and enforcement capabilities.”