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United States President Donald Trump is resurrecting the travel ban policy from his first term, signing a proclamation preventing people from a dozen countries from entering the US.
The 12 countries are Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
In addition to the ban, which takes effect on Monday, there will be heightened restrictions on visitors from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.
“I must act to protect the national security and national interest of the United States and its people,” Trump said in his proclamation.
The list follows an executive order Trump issued in January requiring the departments of state and homeland security and the director of national intelligence to compile a report on “hostile attitudes” toward the US and whether entry from certain countries represented a national security risk.
The countries facing the total ban were found “to be deficient with regards to screening and vetting and determined to pose a very high risk to the United States,” according to a statement provided by the White House.
During his first term, Trump issued an executive order banning travel to the US by citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries — Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen.
It was one of the most chaotic and confusing moments of his earlier presidency.
Travellers from those nations were either barred from boarding their flights to the US or detained at US airports upon arrival.
They included students and faculty as well as businesspeople, tourists and people visiting friends and family.
The order, often referred to as the “Muslim ban” or the “travel ban”, was retooled amid legal challenges until a version was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2018.
The ban affected various categories of travellers and immigrants from Iran, Somalia, Yemen, Syria and Libya, plus North Koreans and some Venezuelan government officials and their families.
Former US president Joe Biden, a Democrat who succeeded Trump, repealed the ban in 2021, calling it “a stain on our national conscience”.
Trump and others have defended the initial ban on national security grounds, arguing it was aimed at protecting the country and not founded on anti-Muslim bias.
But he had called for an explicit ban on Muslims during his first campaign for the White House.
