President Donald Trump signed a decree this Tuesday (16) that expands the list of countries subject to restrictions on entry into the United States. The rule prohibits citizens of seven countries, including Syria, from entering the United States.
According to the statement, the White House imposed total restrictions on citizens of Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, South Sudan and Syria, as well as individuals with travel documents issued by the Palestinian Authority.
The entity, chaired by Mahmoud Abbas, partially governs the West Bank occupied by Israel. In September, Trump had already denied a visa for Abbas to attend the United Nations General Assembly in New York, forcing the Palestinian leader to speak via video conference at the event.
The decree published on Tuesday also extends the total ban to Laos and Sierra Leone, which were previously subject to only partial restrictions.
The group of seven countries, as well as members of the Palestinian Authority, join the initial list of 12 countries already considered “high risk” by the United States. The first wave of total restrictions was announced in June this year.
At the time, Trump barred entry to citizens of Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. The White House announced that the new rules would take effect on January 1, 2026.
The statement said the restrictions are intended to “protect the country from threats to national security and public safety” and that these countries “have demonstrated, persistent and serious deficiencies in monitoring, background checks and information sharing to protect the country from threats to national security and public safety.”
The government maintained partial restrictions for citizens of Burundi, Cuba, Togo and Venezuela. And it also added partial restrictions to 15 countries: Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Ivory Coast, Dominica, Gabon, Gambia, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Tonga, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
On the other hand, the United States lifted the ban on visitor visas for citizens of Turkmenistan, saying the country had productively cooperated with the U.S. government and demonstrated “significant progress.” The entry ban on Turkmens as immigrants continues.
The White House also says this group of countries “suffers from widespread corruption, fraudulent or unreliable civil documents and criminal records, and nonexistent birth registration systems.” The paper states, without citing data, that these countries have high rates of stay in the United States after the end of the visa period.
“The presence of terrorism, criminal activity, and extremism in many of the listed countries results in widespread instability and a lack of government oversight, which compromises verification capacity and poses direct risks to American citizens and interests when nationals of these countries are admitted to the United States,” the order completes.
Since returning to the presidency, Trump has adopted an anti-immigration policy, carrying out large-scale operations to arrest undocumented foreigners and turn away asylum seekers at the border with Mexico.
The expansion of countries under restrictions marks a new escalation since the shooting that killed two National Guard members in Washington last month.
Investigators say the attack was carried out by an Afghan citizen who entered the United States in 2021 as part of a resettlement program, Operation Allies Welcome, launched by the administration of former President Joe Biden after the Taliban regained power in the country.
A few days after the shooting, Trump promised to “permanently suspend” migration from all “third world countries,” without specifying which countries these would be.
During his first term, Trump banned citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States, one of his most controversial measures and which was repealed by Joe Biden in 2021. At the time, the Democrat called the ban “a stain on the national conscience” of the United States.
About The Author
