President Donald Trump signed a proclamation Wednesday that bans nationals from a dozen countries, including Afghanistan, Haiti and the Republic of Congo, from entering the United States, framing the travel ban as necessary to fortify national security and building upon one of the most contentious policies of his first term.
“I directed the Secretary of State, in coordination with the Attorney General, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the Director of National Intelligence, to identify countries throughout the world for which vetting and screening information is so deficient as to warrant a full or partial suspension on the admission of nationals from those countries,” Trump wrote in his proclamation.
Trump banned nationals from 12 countries from entering the United States: Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
Several of the countries on the list, according to Trump’s proclamation, regularly declined to accept the return of their citizens or had visa overstay rates the administration deemed “unacceptable” and indicative of “a blatant disregard for United States immigration laws.”
Others on the list, like Sudan, Yemen and Somalia, were included for inadequate screening and vetting measures, the administration said.
An additional seven countries came under partial travel restrictions,