The proclamation of President Donald Trump on Wednesday restricts the entrance to the United States for the nationals of a mosaic of 19 countries revives one of his most controversial policies of his first mandate and addresses many of the same countries.
As of Monday, the Directive prohibits entry for nationals from 12 countries: Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. It also institutes partial prohibitions and visa restrictions for Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.
Trump instituted similar travel restrictions during his first term and even attacked several of the same countries, including Iran, Libya and Venezuela.
Around 139,000 visas for visitors from the 19 countries during fiscal year 2023 were issued, according to data from the State Department. Venezuelan visitors received the greatest number of visas.
In all countries, tourism and business visas were broadcast more frequently.
Trump’s proclamation cited the risks of security and terrorism as the reason behind some of the restrictions, and specifically accused visitors of several of the countries to remain beyond the expiration dates of their visas. But the data of the National Security Department show that, although several of the countries had high supervision rates during fiscal year 2023, the real number of people was low.
Eritrea, for example, had the second highest supervision rate, but the total was just over 200, a small fraction of the number of overvaluers of Mexico, India or Brazil.
