President Donald Trump's extensive new travel ban took effect just after midnight on Monday, barring nationals of 12 countries from entering the U.S. and partially restricting those from another seven.
Trump announced the policy last week after a firebombing attack in Colorado, saying it is necessary for national security. It revives a controversial travel ban that Trump had enacted during his first term and promised to restore while on the campaign trail.
"The recent terror attack in Boulder, Colorado has underscored the extreme dangers posed to our country by the entry of foreign nationals who are not properly vetted, as well as those who come here as temporary visitors and overstay their visas," Trump said in a Wednesday video introducing the ban. "We don't want them."
The ban mostly affects countries in Africa and the Middle East. The man charged in the Colorado attack is from Egypt, which is not on the restricted list. Trump says countries can be added or removed over time.
"The list is subject to revision based on whether material improvements are made, and likewise, new countries can be added as threats emerge around the world," Trump said. "But we will not allow people to enter our country who wish to do us harm, and nothing will stop us from keeping America safe."
While legal challenges are expected, scholars say this ban has some key differences — and may be less vulnerable — compared to Trump's first-term travel ban.
The 2017 ban — initially targeting Muslim-majority countries — prompted immediate outcry and legal challenges, forcing the first Trump administration to make a number of revisions. The Supreme Court upheld a revised version in 2018, but former President Joe Biden promptly rescinded it on his first day in office in 2021, calling it a "stain on our national conscience."
Georgetown University law professor Stephen Vladeck says Trump has learned lessons from his previous experience.
"I think what's really striking about the latest iteration of this kind of travel ban is really how radically different it looks from the clumsier, I think, less careful attempts we saw during the first Trump administration," Vladeck told NPR last week.
Here's what to know about the new travel ban, from exemptions to enforcement to reaction.
Which countries are affected?
The full ban applies to foreign nationals from 12 countries: Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
Heightened restrictions apply to people from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.
Why these countries?
The White House says these 12 countries are subject to the ban because they were "found to be deficient with regards to screening and vetting and determined to pose a very high risk to the United States." The other seven, it says, "also pose a high level of risk."
The ban has been in the works for some time.
On Trump's first day back in office, he signed an executive order tasking the heads of various agencies — including the attorney general and secretary of homeland security — with "identifying countries throughout 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."
In last week's video, Trump said their analysis considered factors including "the large-scale presence of terrorists, failure to cooperate on visa security, inability to verify travelers' identities, inadequate record-keeping of criminal histories and persistently high rates of illegal visa overstays and other things."
The White House says some countries on the list, like Libya and Somalia, lack a "competent or cooperative central authority for issuing passports or civil documents."
For others, its fact sheet cites country-specific data from a 2023 Department of Homeland Security report on travelers who stayed in the U.S. after their visas expired. The report shows that B1/B2 visa (for temporary business or tourism) overstay rates range from 7.69% (Cuba) to 49.54% (Chad).
However, those large percentages amount to a relatively small number of people — especially when compared to the volume of travelers who come from European and Asian countries whose citizens do not need a visa for business or pleasure visits.
For example, the Department of Homeland Security recorded a 2.4% overstay rate among Spanish visitors in fiscal year 2023, amounting to over 20,000 people. In contrast, the 49.5% overstay rate from Chad amounted to just 377 individuals.
How will the ban be enforced?
The ban targets the visa application process, including applications that are already in progress in the now-banned countries.
The State Department instructed U.S. embassies and consulates last week not to revoke visas already issued to people from the 12 banned countries, according to a cable obtained by the Associated Press.
But, it says, people from those countries who have not yet received their visas, even though their applications were approved, will be denied. Starting Monday, peoples' applications will be rejected unless they qualify for an exemption.
People who are not U.S. citizens generally must show a valid visa (or a waiver) to enter the country. It is up to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents to decide whether to admit or deny entry to individuals at the border.
The Department of Homeland Security, which houses CBP, called the ban a "necessary step to garner cooperation from foreign governments to accept deportation flights of their own citizens, strengthen national security, and help restore integrity to the immigration system."
Who is exempt?
The proclamation carves out exceptions for people in several categories of people, including lawful permanent residents, existing visa holders and individuals whose entry "serves U.S. national interests."
Those include dual nationals traveling with a passport from a non-banned country, children adopted by U.S. citizens, immediate family immigrant visas "with clear and convincing evidence of identity and family relationship" and Special Immigrant Visas for longtime U.S. government employees abroad.
There are also exemptions for immigrant visas for ethnic and religious minorities facing persecution in Iran, as well as Afghan nationals who can prove they were employed by or on behalf of the U.S. government during its military campaign in Afghanistan starting in 2001.
The ban also does not apply to any members of an athletic team — including athletes, coaches and immediate relatives — "traveling for the World Cup, Olympics, or other major sporting event as determined by the Secretary of State." Eleven U.S. cities will host matches during the 2026 FIFA World Cup, while the 2028 Summer Olympics will be held in Los Angeles.
How are countries responding?
The ban has attracted criticism from foreign leaders as well as international groups, with Amnesty International calling it "discriminatory, racist, and downright cruel."
Some foreign leaders have asked for the U.S. to reconsider.
The African Union Commission issued a statement expressing concern about the "potential negative of such measures on people-to-people ties, educational exchange, commercial engagement and the broader diplomatic relations that have been carefully nurtured over decades."
"The African Union Commission respectfully calls upon the U.S. Administration to consider adopting a more consultative approach and to engage in constructive dialogue with the countries concerned," it wrote.
Officials in some African countries have already expressed willingness to work with the U.S.: Dahir Hassan Abdi, the Somali ambassador to the U.S., said the country "stands ready to engage in dialogue to address the concerns raised," while the AP reports that a government spokesperson for the Republic of Congo said he believes the country's inclusion was "a misunderstanding" that will hopefully be corrected.
Leaders of other nations appear to be less eager to work out a compromise. Mahamat Idriss Deby, the president of Chad, said Thursday that his country will suspend the issuing of visas to U.S. citizens in response to the travel ban.
"Chad has no planes to offer, no billions of dollars to give but Chad has his dignity and pride," he wrote on Facebook, according to a translation from the AP — referring to the luxury jet the Trump administration has accepted from Qatar to use as Air Force One.
In Venezuela, Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello warned that "being in the U.S. is a big risk for anyone, not just Venezuelans."
"If you're really that foolish, then go to the United States," he added, saying the country is run by "bad people."
How is this ban different from the last one?
Trump's first travel ban, enacted in January 2017, targeted seven majority-Muslim countries — Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen — for 90 days.
That ban was the subject of multiple legal challenges and restraining orders because it was seen as targeting Muslim nationals. Trump himself had called for a "total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States" during his first campaign.
The ban took effect abruptly just days into Trump's term, hitting as some travelers were already on their way to the U.S. and turning airports into scenes of chaos and protest.
Immigration lawyer Mariam Masumi says this year's ban involved more advanced notice and orderly implementation, seemingly cutting down on the amount of public disruption and pushback. She thinks there's also less shock value this time around.
"A significant difference here is that the first travel ban, Trump was openly saying very racist things, that he's going to ban Muslims from the country," Masumi told NPR last week. "And at this point, people have gotten used to that, and there's this fatigue and tiredness around it, and we've unfortunately gotten very used to these policies."
The 2017 ban was repeatedly revised to include additional countries (like North Korea and Venezuela) while dropping others, and was upheld by a 5-4 Supreme Court ruling the following year.
Masumi says the 2025 ban was crafted with more legal precision to avoid some of its predecessor's pitfalls. It includes specific exemptions, waiver options and more of a justification for why certain countries are included, and doesn't single out Muslim-majority countries specifically.
That said, Masumi says the policy will still hurt people, especially families, workers and refugees.
"This is going to have a global impact, as well, on our reputation in the world," she said. "And we're basically closing our doors for immigrants, and it's very unfortunate that this type of policy has become normalized."
Are legal challenges likely?
Masumi says her fellow immigration lawyers have expected and prepared for this type of ban to take effect.
"And I imagine there will be legal challenges to the current ban, but I do think that they've been very careful in how they've crafted it," she said.
Vladeck, the Georgetown Law professor, thinks litigation will likely focus specifically on the factual grounds that the Trump administration is using to target certain countries, and whether the Department of Homeland Security data it cites "is actually both accurate and a legitimate basis."
He suspects lawsuits could come from people who are already in the U.S. and uncertain about their ability to remain in the country, or from people in other countries who don't yet have a visa but have strong legal arguments for why the U.S. should allow them in. And, he says, it's also possible that the Trump administration carries out the ban in a way that invites legal challenges.
"My own view is that I think the words of this policy are probably going to do relatively well in court, but I would not put it past this administration to enforce it in a way that invites further lawsuits," he said.
NPR's Adrian Florido contributed to this story.
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