On June 9th, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that targets banning travel in nineteen countries. This will restrict a full travel ban from twelve countries and put a separate seven countries under partial travel ban.
Representing a major broadening of the travel bans that were implemented in his first term, the ban demonstrates a more aggressive use of presidential authority to restrict the entry of foreign nationals.
Trump has not only imposed just this one ban. Starting in 2017, there has been a series of bans established by Trump. The federal government prohibited entry from several Muslim majority countries. This ban went under multiple revisions before the final version was held in 2018 by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Two years later, six more countries were added to the list, the administration purported national security and screening concerns. These were later appealed in January of 2021 as the Biden Administration fully appealed them.
In Trump’s Proclamation on June 4, he stated that some of these countries had “deficient” vetting processes, which means that many countries lack the necessary background checks that allow people to get their visas. This poses a risk to national security and increases the likelihood of travelers overstaying their visas. He also picked out the counties that rejected U.S. deportees.
His administration may ban 36 more countries, primarily based in Africa, to the list if they don’t meet the U.S. government’s requirements on vetting and screening.
This ban is focused on two regions of the world, the Middle East and North Africa, and sub-Saharan Africa. The administration continues to target sub-Saharan Africa for future bans, as 24 of the 36 countries are candidates for any possible future bans.
The full ban applies to Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen. The other seven nations are Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela, which face partial restrictions.
There are a few exceptions, which include immediate relatives of U.S. citizens, Afghan SIV holders, athletes and their support staff for major sports events, and individuals traveling under a national interest waiver.
These targeted immigrant groups have a crucial impact on our economy and will have a significant impact on local businesses and communities across the country. In 2023, households led by immigrants from several of these countries earned $3.3 billion in household income and paid $715.6 million in federal, state, and local taxes. By the year 2033, the manufacturing industry alone could see a shortage of 1.9 million workers.
If we include the other 36 countries that have a possibility of getting banned, the households led by these immigrants have earned more than $1.4 billion in income and paid $359.9 million in federal, state, and local taxes.