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From his first arrival at the White House in 2017 to his second term that began in 2025, President Donald J. Trump has repeatedly resorted to immigration bans that prohibit or restrict the entry of citizens from foreign countries at various stages of his administration.
The first major action of this type occurred just a week after assuming the presidency in January 2017, when Trump signed Executive Order 13769, known as the travel ban or immigration ban, which temporarily suspended the entry of refugees to the United States and prohibited the arrival of citizens from seven predominantly Muslim countries considered to be of “high risk”: Libya, Iran, Iraq, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. The order generated immediate chaos at airports and led to massive protests and legal challenges across the country. Due to multiple legal challenges, this first order was revised and modified in March 2017 through Executive Order 13780, which adjusted the list of banned nations and continued to restrict the entry of various groups of foreign nationals under national security arguments.In June 2018, a revised version of the travel ban, known as Travel Ban 3.0, was upheld by the United States Supreme Court, solidifying the policy for the remainder of Trump's first term and maintaining prohibitions for countries such as Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen, among others.
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Following Trump's departure from the presidency in 2021, these bans were revoked by President Joe Biden on his first day in office, but the policy returned with force in 2025, when Trump returned to power.On June 4, 2025, Trump signed an executive proclamation that re-established and expanded a migration ban, completely prohibiting the entry into the United States of citizens from 12 countries and establishing severe restrictions for seven others, again citing national security reasons, deficiencies in passport control, and rates of illegal stay after the expiration of visas.
This new list affected nations such as Afghanistan, Iran, Libya, Somalia and Sudan among those completely banned, and applied limitations to citizens of Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela. The restrictions also included the suspension of new visas for those affected outside the United States, although they did not revoke existing ones.
The proclamation came into effect on June 9, 2025, marking the continuation of an aggressive migration policy that resonated internationally and drew both internal and external criticism for its impact on migrant communities and diplomatic relations.At the end of December 2025, Trump issued a second proclamation that further expanded the ban, adding 20 additional countries and the Palestinian Authority, bringing the total number of affected countries to 39. This expansion came into effect on January 1, 2026, and was justified under the same legal authority to protect “the national security and public safety of the United States”.
The new additions included countries from Africa and Middle East such as Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, South Sudan and Syria, while others like Nigeria or Tanzania went from partial restrictions to stricter bans. These successive measures have generated an intense political and judicial debate, with defenders arguing the need to strengthen border security and critics pointing out that such vetoes collectively discriminate against entire populations and damage the international reputation of the United States.
