Trump expands U.S. travel ban to 5 more countries and Palestinian Authority, toughens limits on others

The ruff organization is expanding its move around censor to include quintuplet more countries — plus the Palestinian Authority — and imposing new limits on 15 others, doubling the number of jurisdictions affected by sweeping limits announced earlier this year on who can travel and emigrate to the U.S.

The administration said Tuesday it is banning citizens of Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, South Sudan and Syria from entering the U.S., as well as people travelling on documents issued by the Palestinian Authority.

Citizens of Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Dominica, Gabon, Gambia, Ivory Coast, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Tonga, Zambia and Zimbabwe will face partial restrictions.

The move is part of ongoing efforts to tighten U.S. Entry standards for travel and immigration, and follows the arrest of an Afghan national in the shooting of two National Guard troops in Washington, D.C., over the U.S. Thanksgiving weekend.

People who already have visas, are lawful permanent residents of the U.S. Or have certain visa categories such as diplomats or athletes, or whose entry into the country is believed to serve the U.S. Interest are exempt from the restrictions.

In June, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that citizens of 12 countries would be banned from visiting the United States and those from seven others would face restrictions. The decision resurrected a hallmark policy of his first term.

At the time, the ban included Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen and heightened restrictions on visitors from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.

The White House says the expanded ban will go into effect Jan. 1, 2026. The restrictions apply to both people seeking to travel to the U.S. As visitors or to emigrate there.

The Trump administration said many of the affected countries had "widespread corruption, fraudulent or unreliable civil documents and criminal records" that made it difficult to vet their citizens for travel to the U.S.

It also said some countries had high rates of people overstaying their visas, refused to take back their citizens who the U.S. Wished to deport or had a "general lack of stability and government control," which made vetting difficult. It also cited immigration enforcement, foreign policy and national security concerns for the move.

The Afghan man accused of shooting the National Guard troops has pleaded not guilty to murder and assault charges.

In the aftermath of the shooting, the administration announced a flurry of further immigration restrictions.

The news of the expanding travel ban is likely to face fierce opposition from critics who have argued that the administration is using national security concerns to collectively keep out people from a wide range of countries.

"This expanded ban is not about national security but instead is another shameful attempt to demonize people simply for where they are from," said Laurie Ball Cooper, vice-president of U.S. Legal Programs at the International Refugee Assistance Project.

The administration also upgraded restrictions on some countries — Laos and Sierra Leone — that previously were on the partially restricted list and in one case — Turkmenistan — said the country had improved enough to warrant easing some restrictions. Everything else from the previous restrictions announced in June remains in place, the administration said.

The new restrictions on Palestinians comes months after the administration imposed limits that make it nearly impossible for anyone holding a Palestinian Authority passport from receiving travel documents to visit the U.S. For business, work, pleasure or educational purposes.

The announcement Tuesday goes further, banning people with Palestinian Authority passports from emigrating to the U.S.

In justifying its decision Tuesday, the administration said several "U.S.-designated terrorist groups operate actively in the West Bank or Gaza Strip and have murdered American citizens."

The administration also said that the recent war in those areas had "likely resulted in compromised vetting and screening abilities."

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