Trump administration plans to expand travel ban to 30 countries
The Trump administration is preparing to broaden its existing travel restrictions to include roughly 30 countries, following the recent fatal shooting of two National Guard soldiers in Washington, D.C. Several officials confirmed that the proposal is under review, with an official announcement expected soon.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who met President Donald Trump on Monday, urged the president to impose “a full travel ban on every country that’s been flooding our nation with killers, leeches, and entitlement junkies.” In a post on X, Noem stated, “Our forefathers built this nation on blood, sweat, and the unyielding love of freedom, not for foreign invaders to slaughter our heroes, suck dry our hard-earned tax dollars, or snatch the benefits owed to Americans,” News.Az reports, citing foreign media.
The move comes in the wake of an attack allegedly carried out by Rahmanullah Lakanwal, an Afghan national who entered the United States in 2021 and received asylum earlier this year. In response, the administration has halted visa services for Afghan passport holders, paused all asylum decisions, and ordered a review of more than 720,000 green card files from 19 countries already subject to restrictions.
The updated measures would expand a proclamation issued this summer, which imposed full or partial entry limits on nationals of Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen. Partial limits were also applied to travelers from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela.
At a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, President Trump singled out Somalia, stating that Somali immigrants “contribute nothing” and adding, “I don’t want them in our country.” Noem also claimed that a review of visa cases in Minnesota revealed “50% of them are fraudulent,” pledging that authorities would “remove them and get our money back.”
Earlier reports indicated that the suspect accused of shooting the two National Guard members in Washington, D.C., has entered a plea of not guilty to charges of first-degree murder and assault.
The expansion of the travel ban marks a significant escalation in the administration’s immigration policy, with implications for thousands of individuals seeking entry into the United States from affected countries.
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