Trump admin considers sweeping travel ban on 41 countries, memo reveals

The Trump administration is weighing new travel restrictions for citizens of dozens of nations, according to sources and an internal memo seen by Reuters.
The proposal would impose different levels of visa suspensions across 41 countries, Tasnim reported.
An internal memo divides the 41 nations into three distinct groups.
In the first group, 10 countries, including Afghanistan, Iran, Syria, Cuba, and North Korea would face a full visa suspension.
The second group comprises five nations—Eritrea, Haiti, Laos, Myanmar, and South Sudan—that would encounter partial suspensions affecting tourist, student, and certain immigrant visas.
The third group lists 26 countries such as Belarus, Pakistan, and Turkmenistan, which may see a partial suspension of US visa issuance if their governments "do not make efforts to address deficiencies within 60 days," the memo states.
A US official speaking on condition of anonymity warned that the list might change and noted that it has not yet been approved by the administration, including US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The New York Times was the first to report on the list of countries.
The move echoes US President Donald Trump’s first-term travel ban on seven majority-Muslim nations, a policy that evolved through several iterations before being upheld by the Supreme Court in 2018.
On January 20, Trump issued an executive order mandating intensified security vetting for any foreign national seeking entry into the US to identify potential national security threats.
That order directed several cabinet members to submit a list of countries by March 21 from which travel should be partly or fully suspended due to "vetting and screening information" being so deficient.
The directive is part of a broader immigration crackdown initiated at the start of Trump’s second term.
In an October 2023 speech, he previewed his plan, pledging to restrict people from the Gaza Strip, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Yemen and "anywhere else that threatens our security."
The US State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.
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