President Donald Trump expanded the travel ban to the United States on Tuesday (December 16, 2025), banning entry to citizens of seven other countries, including Syria, as well as holders of Palestinian Authority passports.
Trump, who has long advocated for immigration restrictions and has become increasingly vocal, has decided to ban entry to foreigners who “have the intent to threaten Americans,” according to the White House.
He also wants to prevent foreigners in the United States from “undermining or destabilizing its culture, its government, its institutions, or its founding principles,” the White House said in a statement.
The attack in Syria
Trump’s move comes just days after two American soldiers and a civilian were killed in Syria, a country that Trump has sought to rehabilitate internationally since the overthrow of former leader Bashar al Assad.
The Syrian authorities claimed that the perpetrator was a member of the security forces who should be fired because of “extremist Islamist ideas.”
The Trump administration had already informally banned Palestinian Authority passport holders from traveling in solidarity with Israel against recognition of a Palestinian state by other major Western countries such as France and Britain.
Other citizens subject to the total travel ban come from some of Africa’s poorest countries – Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Sierra Leone and South Sudan – as well as Laos in Southeast Asia.
In a series of new moves, the White House announced that Trump would also impose partial travel restrictions on citizens of other African countries, including the most populous Nigeria and the majority-black Caribbean nations.
gs (afp, reuters, efe)
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