United States President Donald Trump has signed an executive order imposing travel ban on people from 12 countries and partially restricting the citizens of seven other countries.
The countries that were outrightly banned from entry into the United States include Afghanistan, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Myanmar, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
In the order which was announced on Wednesday, people from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela were handed partial ban.
However, there are some exemptions, which includes athletes travelling for major sporting events, some Afghan nationals and dual nationals with citizenship in unaffected countries
The directive will take effect from June 9, barring or limiting entry into the United States for travelers from a total of 19 countries across Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America.
In February, Trump considered a broad expansion of travel restrictions that could impact citizens from 41 countries.
Claiming the move is part of broader efforts to protect national security, officials say the affected countries either fail to meet US information-sharing standards or pose a heightened risk due to terrorism, instability, or weak border control measures.
Trump said in a video message from the Oval Office posted on social media platform X. “The recent terror attack in Boulder, Colorado, has underscored the extreme dangers posed to our country by the entry of foreign nationals who are not properly vetted,”
“We don’t want them.”
