Trump bans citizens of 12 countries from entering US, ties move to attack on Colorado rally

US President Donald Trump signed a proclamation on Wednesday banning the citizens of 12 countries from entering the United States, saying the move was needed to protect against “foreign terrorists” and other security threats, specifically tying the move to the firebomb attack on a Colorado rally for the hostages held in Gaza despite the attacker not coming from a listed nation.

The directive is part of an immigration crackdown Trump launched this year at the start of his second term, which has also included the deportation to El Salvador of hundreds of Venezuelans suspected of being gang members, as well as efforts to deny enrollments of some foreign students and deport others.

The countries affected by the latest travel ban are Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.

The entry of people from seven other countries — Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela — will be partially restricted.

“We will not allow people to enter our country who wish to do us harm,” Trump said in a video posted on X. He said the list could be revised and new countries could be added.

Notably, Syria is not on the list despite having been named in a previous Trump ban in 2017, during his first term. The latest decision comes amid a US-Syria rapprochement, weeks after the US president met Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa in Saudi Arabia, later praising the former jihadist as a “young, attractive guy. Tough guy. Strong past.”

The proclamation is effective on June 9, 2025, at 12:01 am EDT (0401 GMT). Visas issued before that date will not be revoked, the order said.

Trump said the new travel ban is tied to an attack on a rally in Colorado, in which a man tossed Molotov cocktails into a crowd of demonstrators on behalf of hostages held in Gaza, as an example of why the new restrictions are needed.

“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,” Trump said in a video message.

An Egyptian national, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, has been charged in the attack. Federal officials said Soliman had overstayed his tourist visa and had an expired work permit — although Egypt is not on the list of countries facing travel limits.

During his first term in office, Trump announced a ban on travelers from several Muslim-majority nations, a policy that went through several iterations before it was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2018.

Former US president Joe Biden, a Democrat who succeeded Trump, repealed that ban — which applied to nationals from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen —  in 2021, calling it “a stain on our national conscience.”

Trump said the countries subject to the most severe restrictions were determined to harbor a “large-scale presence of terrorists,” fail to cooperate on visa security and have an inability to verify travelers’ identities, inadequate record-keeping of criminal histories and high rates of visa overstays in the United States.

“We cannot have open migration from any country where we cannot safely and reliably vet and screen those who seek to enter the United States,” Trump said.

Haiti, which avoided the travel ban during Trump’s first term, was also included for high overstay rates and large numbers who came to the US illegally. Haitians continue to flee poverty, hunger and political instability while police and a UN-backed mission fight a surge in gang violence, with armed men controlling at least 85 percent of its capital, Port-au-Prince.

“Haiti lacks a central authority with sufficient availability and dissemination of law enforcement information necessary to ensure its nationals do not undermine the national security of the United States,” Trump wrote.

International aid groups and refugee resettlement organizations roundly condemned the new ban. “This policy is not about national security — it is about sowing division and vilifying communities that are seeking safety and opportunity in the United States,” said Abby Maxman, president of Oxfam America.

Being in the US a ‘big risk’

The Iranian government offered no immediate reaction to being included. The Trump administration called it a “state sponsor of terrorism,” barring visitors except for those already holding visas or coming into the US on special visas America issues for minorities facing persecution.

Somalia immediately pledged to work with the US to address security issues.

“Somalia values its longstanding relationship with the United States and stands ready to engage in dialogue to address the concerns raised,” Dahir Hassan Abdi, the Somali ambassador to the United States, said in a statement.

Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, a close ally of President Nicolas Maduro, responded on Wednesday evening by describing the US government as fascist and warning Venezuelans of being in the US.

“The truth is being in the United States is a big risk for anybody, not just for Venezuelans… They persecute our countrymen, our people for no reason.”

A spokesperson for the Taliban-led Afghan foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Pakistan’s foreign ministry did not immediately reply to a request for comment on how it would handle the thousands of Afghans waiting in Islamabad who had been in the pipeline for US resettlement.

Calls early on Thursday to the spokesperson of Myanmar’s military government were not answered.

Trump’s presidential campaign focused on a tough border strategy, and he previewed his plan in an October 2023 speech, pledging to restrict people from the Gaza Strip, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, and “anywhere else that threatens our security.”

Trump issued an executive order on January 20 requiring intensified security vetting of any foreigners seeking admission to the US to detect national security threats.