US President Donald Trump's sweeping ban on travel to the US by citizens of 12 countries took effect on Monday amid rising tensions over immigration.
The 12 countries targeted include Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. Nationals from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela are partially restricted.
On Wednesday, Trump warned in a video that new countries could be added to the list as "threats emerge around the world."
The ban comes more than eight years after his first travel ban in 2017, which denied entry to citizens from mainly Muslim-majority countries, sparking chaos at numerous airports and prompting months of legal battles.
Unlike Trump's first ban, no such disruption was immediately discernible at airports and other entry points.
Experts expect the new proclamation, which is broader and more carefully crafted, to withstand legal challenges partly due to its focus on the visa application process.
The ban does not revoke visas issued to citizens of countries included on the list. However, unless the applicant meets narrow criteria for an exemption to the ban, their application will be rejected from Monday.
Travellers with previously issued visas should still be able to enter the US even after the ban takes effect.
The announcement that the ban would take effect on Monday was overshadowed by other immigration battles, including widespread protests in Los Angeles against Trump’s deportation raids. The demonstrations prompted the deployment of the National Guard, despite objections from California’s governor.
The policy targets explicitly citizens of Haiti and Afghanistan, though it makes exceptions for individuals who collaborated closely with the US government during the two-decade war.
It also imposes stricter measures on Venezuelan nationals, who have faced increased pressure under the Trump administration in recent months, including abrupt deportations to a detention facility in El Salvador, which have ignited a legal battle.
The measure has been denounced by groups that provide aid and resettlement help to refugees. “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,” Abby Maxman, president of Oxfam America, said.
Trump has justified the ban by claiming that some countries had "deficient” screening for passports and other public documents or have historically refused to take back their own citizens.
The nationals in the countries included on the list impose "terrorism-related” and “public-safety” risks, as well as risks of overstaying their visas.
He also tied the ban to a hate crime attack in Colorado, which wounded a dozen people, saying it underscored the dangers posed by visitors who overstay visas in the US. The man charged in the incident is from Egypt, a country not included in Trump's list.
