Reports indicate the Trump Administration is contemplating a new travel ban impacting citizens from potentially 43 nations. This move could be a significant expansion of Trump’s initial policy, which primarily targeted countries with majority Muslim populations.
According to an internal memo, initially obtained and reviewed by the and subsequently by , the Trump Administration’s draft of a “2.0” travel ban includes several new countries. The memo suggests these countries would be categorized into three tiers: red, orange, and yellow.
Citizens from the 11 “red” category countries would reportedly face a complete prohibition from entering the United States. These countries are said to include Afghanistan, Bhutan, Cuba, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela, and Yemen. However, the Times notes this list was compiled by the State Department a few weeks prior, and changes are possible.
Citizens from “orange” category countries, including Haiti, Russia, and Pakistan, would face substantial visa restrictions. The Times reports that these individuals would be required to undergo “mandatory in-person interviews” to obtain a visa. The “yellow” category comprises countries given 60 days to address concerns raised by the Administration, or risk being moved to a higher-risk category. Cambodia, Zimbabwe, and the Republic of Congo are reportedly on this list.
The White House has not yet issued a public statement regarding the reported memo. TIME has contacted the White House for comment.
News of a potential new travel ban from the Trump Administration surfaced shortly after President Trump was questioned on Wednesday, March 12, about which countries might be targeted in his “2.0” list. He dismissed the reporter’s question, stating, “Wouldn’t that be a stupid thing for me to say?”
During his campaign, Trump pledged to reinstate the travel ban, a policy that garnered significant attention when first introduced during his initial term. His signing of an Executive Order titled “” on Jan. 20 reaffirmed his intentions.
Here’s a retrospective look at the history of Trump’s travel ban and his stated plans for the future.
Trump’s first term travel ban
In January 2017, a week after assuming office, Trump signed what became known as the “Travel Ban,” primarily impacting Muslim-majority nations. The ban prohibited the entry of Syrian refugees and temporarily suspended entry for individuals from Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen.
The action sparked and across the country. Judges in multiple states blocked the initial ban soon after its implementation in 2017, arguing that it unfairly targeted Muslim countries and discriminated against people based on nationality without justification, violating U.S. immigration law.
Ultimately, the Supreme Court upheld a revised version in , allowing the ban to continue for citizens from Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Syria, Venezuela, and Yemen. They later in 2018. These countries could again be at risk if a “2.0” list is finalized.
Upon entering office in 2021, former President Joe Biden , calling it “a stain on our national conscience” and “inconsistent with our long history of welcoming people of all faiths and no faith at all.”
“[T]hey have separated loved ones, inflicting pain that will ripple for years to come. They are just plain wrong,” Biden stated in the announcing the end to the ban.
Trump promised to reinstate the travel ban during his campaign
Throughout his 2024 campaign, Trump repeatedly vowed to reinstate his 2017 travel ban.
In July, during a in St. Cloud, Minnesota, Trump told the audience that he would “restore the travel ban, suspend refugee admissions, stop the resettlement, and keep the terrorists the hell out of our country,” promising to do so on of his presidency.
In , Trump stated he would ban individuals from “terrorist infested” areas and would “seal our borders.”
“Remember the famous travel ban? We didn’t take people from certain areas of the world,” Trump said at the September 2024 event. “We’re not taking them from infested countries.”
Trump’s Executive Order on “vetting” countries
While Trump did not reinstate his travel ban on “day one” as promised, on the first day of his second term, he signed the Executive Order titled “Protecting the United States from Foreign Terrorists and other National Security and Public Safety Threats.”
Within the Executive Order, Trump directed the Secretary of State, the Attorney General, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the Director of National Intelligence to submit a report “identifying countries throughout the world for which vetting and screening information is so deficient as to warrant a partial or full suspension on the admission of nationals from those countries,” setting a deadline of 60 days.
Assuming the timeline remains unchanged, this report is due to the President by next week, although he may have already received it.
The Executive Order also mandated the report to specify the number of individuals from these countries who had entered the United States since Biden’s inauguration.
This was just one Executive Order in a signed by Trump aimed at significantly altering and tightening the United States’ immigration and visitation policies.
