The President of the United States, Donald Trump, has banned citizens from twelve countries from entering the United States.
Trump, in a proclamation on Wednesday, also declared that citizens of seven other countries would be partially restricted.
According to him, the move was needed to protect the U.S. against “foreign terrorists” and other security threats.
The countries placed on a full ban are: Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
Similarly, citizens of Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela will be partially restricted.
The proclamation is effective on June 9, 2025 at 12:01 am EDT (5:01am Nigerian time).
“We will not allow people to enter our country who wish to do us harm,” Trump said in a video posted on X.
The U.S. President said the list could be revised and new countries could be added.
He said the countries subject to the most severe restrictions were determined to harbour a “large-scale presence of terrorists”.
He alleged others failed to cooperate on visa security and had an inability to verify travellers’ identities, inadequate record-keeping of criminal histories and high rates of visa overstays in the U.S.
“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.
