Trump expands travel ban: Five more countries added to no-entry list; new restrictions on others

The Trump administration has expanded its travel ban to include five additional countries while imposing new restrictions on others.The administration’s June announcement had already banned visitors from 12 countries, including Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen.The new expansion adds Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, South Sudan, and Syria to the list of banned countries. Additionally, travel has been fully restricted for individuals with Palestinian Authority-issued travel documents.Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela were already facing heightened restrictions under the previous ban.The administration has also implemented partial restrictions for 15 more countries: Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Dominica, Gabon, Gambia, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Tonga, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.“It is the policy of the United States to protect its citizens from foreign nationals who intend to commit terrorist attacks, threaten our national security and public safety, incite hate crimes, or otherwise exploit the immigration laws for malevolent purposes,” stated the White House.“The United States must exercise extreme vigilance during the visa-issuance and immigration processes to identify, prior to their admission or entry into the United States, foreign nationals who intend to harm Americans or our national interests,” it added,These changes are part of the administration’s broader efforts to strengthen US entry standards for travel and immigration.