President Donald Trump issued travel restrictions on 12 nations, saying he will not allow “what happened in Europe to happen to America.”
The majority of the nations included in the travel ban are countries with a predominant Muslim population. Over the last decade, Europe’s Muslim population has increased drastically as more immigrants from Muslim nations settle in Europe with Pew Research Center reporting that Muslims are estimated to make up 8% of Europe’s population by 2030.
The travel restrictions are being applied to nations that fail to “cooperate on visa security,” and have an “inability to verify traveler’s identities, inadequate record-keeping of criminal histories, and [have] persistently high rates of illegal visa overstays and other things,” Trump said a video message Wednesday evening.
“Very simply, 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.
Trump’s executive order places a full travel restriction and limits the entry of nationals from: Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen.
The president also placed a partial travel restriction and limited the entry of nationals from seven countries, including: Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela.
“These restrictions distinguish between, but apply to both, the entry of immigrants and nonimmigrants,” according to the executive order.
Exceptions to the travel ban “may be made case-by-case for individuals for whom the Secretary of State finds, in his discretion, that the travel by the individual would serve a United States national interest,” according to the order. “These exceptions shall be made by only the Secretary of State or his designee, in coordination with the Secretary of Homeland Security or her designee.”
Trump said the recent “terror attack in Boulder, Colorado” confirmed the need for limiting entry into the U.S. from certain nations, but also indicated he planned to put a travel ban in place long before the attack on a group of people demonstrating in solidarity with the hostages that remain captive in Gaza.
Egypt, the nation the lead suspect in the attack Mohamed Soliman is from, is not included in the travel restriction.
On his first day back in office, Trump directed the Secretary of State to “perform a Security review of high-risk regions and make recommendations for where restrictions should be imposed,” according to the president.
In 2017, during his first administration, Trump issued similar travel restrictions on six Muslim majority countries. Lawsuits were filed against the president’s actions, but the Supreme Court ultimately ruled that the president has the immigration authority to issue such restrictions.
