President Donald Trump’s administration has been weighing a travel ban on citizens from dozens of countries, according to an internal memorandum.
The memo, which was viewed by Reuters, lists 41 countries, divided into three groups.
One group, which includes Afghanistan, Iran, Syria, Cuba, and North Korea, would be set for a full visa suspension.
The five countries in the second group—Eritrea, Haiti, Laos, Myanmar, and South Sudan—would face partial suspensions that would impact tourist and student visas as well as other immigrant visas, with some exceptions.
The third group of 26 countries, including Belarus and Pakistan, would be considered for a partial suspension of U.S. visa issuance if their governments “do not make efforts to address deficiencies within 60 days,” the memo said.
A White House official did not deny that the new travel restrictions are being considered. The official told The Epoch Times in an email that no decision has been made yet.
The State Department did not respond to a request for comment by publication time.
Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, a president can “suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens” whenever he “finds that the entry of any aliens or of any class of aliens into the United States would be detrimental to the interests of the United States.”
Hawaii officials sued over the restrictions, arguing they went beyond those allowed by the act.
“By its plain language, [the act] grants the President broad discretion to suspend the entry of aliens into the United States,” Justice John Roberts wrote at the time. “The President lawfully exercised that discretion based on his findings—following a worldwide, multi-agency review—that entry of the covered aliens would be detrimental to the national interest.”
After being sworn in on Jan. 20, Trump directed the attorney general and other top officials to identify countries around the world “for which vetting and screening information is so deficient as to warrant a partial or full suspension on the admission of nationals from those countries” pursuant to the act.
While campaigning for the 2024 election, Trump floated a travel ban on citizens from several countries, including Libya and Somalia, as well as “anywhere else that threatens our security.”
