Nineteen countries receive varying travel bans from US including Haiti and Cuba

Donald Trump has sparked fresh controversy by signing a proclamation which effectively bans travel to the US by nationals of twelve specific countries, including the likes of: Afghanistan, Iran, Libya, Yemen, and Haiti.

His administration have also partially placed travel restrictions on a further seven nations, of which Cuba and Venezuela are the most high-profile.

In a video posted by the president he spoke of the ban as being the “successful prevention of national security threats from reaching our borders”.

He also referred again to the recent attack in Colorado carried out by an Egyptian man illegally remaining in the US, which he said illustrated the “extreme dangers” of foreign nationals entering America as temporary visitors, but who deliberately overstay their visas.

The strength of the restrictions applied will depend on the “severity of the threat posed” with a message to those affected stating that the ban is “subject to revision” if improvements are made.

There are certain exemptions to the sweeping travel ban with sports people being permitted entry, an obvious consideration with the men’s football World Cup and Olympic Games both taking place in the US over the next 3 years.

However, unlike executive orders, which Mr Trump issued multiples of on his first day in office, a presidential proclamation is not legally binding, although it does generally signals a policy shift.

The bans are effective from Monday, 9 June 2025.

Full list

The full list of twelve countries who have received the ban are: Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Congo-Brazzaville, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen. The additional seven given partial bans are: Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.

Trump says it how he sees it

Typically to the point, Mr Trump said: “We don’t want ’em” before highlighting that there had been “one terror attack after another” and they had been carried out by “foreign visa stayers from dangerous places”.

Each country had their vetting capabilities, information sharing policies, “terrorist presence”, visa-overstay rate and acceptance of “removable nationals” taken into consideration, before the final list was drawn up.

Fulfilling promise

White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson addressed the media immediately after the proclamation saying: “President Trump is fulfilling his promise to protect Americans from dangerous foreign actors that want to come to our country and cause us harm.

“These common sense restrictions are country-specific and include places that lack proper vetting, exhibit high visa overstay rates, or fail to share identity and threat information.”

So what are the exemptions?

Those who will still be able to enter the US from those countries will fall into one of the following categories:

Athletes travelling for major sporting events such as the World Cup, or the Olympics; holders of “immigrant visas for ethnic and religious minorities facing persecution in Iran; Afghan nationals holding special immigrant visas; foreign diplomats travelling under a specified non-immigrant visa; dual nationals who have citizenship in countries not included in the travel ban; and any “lawful permanent resident” of the US – also known as green card holders.

It is also understood that the Secretary of State may grant exemptions to individuals on a “case-by-case” basis, if for any reason that individual’s staying would “serve the United States national interest”.

Enlightening stats

According to data from the Department of Homeland Security when looking back to the fiscal year of 2022 (the most recent year on record for arrivals) the total combined arrivals from the 19 countries affected was 363,549 people, with just over a quarter of a million of these coming in from Venezuela.

Of the others the next highest was the 66,563 from Haiti, then 13,079 from Cuba and 9,888 from Iran. 

No leeway for the Caribbean duo

Data from the US Census Bureau suggested more than 852,000 Haitians were living in the US in February 2024, though it does not give a breakdown of when those migrants arrived. 

Many arrived following a devastating earthquake in 2010, but a high percentage came over after fleeing growing gang violence that Haiti became engulfed in.

Mr Trump has pointed out the lack of central authority and law enforcement currently in the country, meaning that people cannot be vetted properly and as a consequence, have to be viewed as a security threat. 

With regards to Cuba, the Trump administration are insistent that the largest island in the Caribbean is considered a state sponsor of terrorism and in addition, its government does not cooperate on law enforcement matters, or take back its own nationals as deportees.