President Trump signed a declaration on Wednesday banning travelers from 12 countries and partially restricted seven more travelers starting Monday, June 9.

The White House said action is needed to protect the United States from terrorist attacks and other national security threats, saying these countries lack screening and scrutiny capabilities.

The comprehensive ban applies to foreign nationals in Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Sudan and Yemen.

Part of the ban applies to people in Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.

In a video statement posted on social media, Trump said the bomb attack in Boulder, Colorado highlighted why the ban was needed. The man charged with the attack was on an expired visa in the United States - he was reportedly from any country listed in the travel ban.

"In the 21st century, we have seen a terrorist attack, which has since been carried out by people with over-high foreign visas from dangerous places around the world," Trump said in a video statement.

Shawn Vandiver, who is a nonprofit organization with Afghan Evac, helped him resettle Afghans in the United States, said his “craziest part” is that the Trump administration has now provided special immigration visas for Afghans hired by or on behalf of the U.S. government.

“The mechanisms they kill or try to kill represent the safest legal immigration path ever in our country,” Vandiver said. “The safest and safest legal immigration path ever in our country … because they are so thoroughly reviewed. They are being scrutinized for six different periods.”

Vandiver estimates there are about 250,000 Afghans in the pipeline, but the Trump administration’s disruption of refugee recognition and resettlement plans, coupled with this new travel ban, has no realistic way to immigrate to the United States.

“All of these commitments (the United States) were broken,” he said. “It shows that our commitments are temporary and conditional.”

background

The new travel ban is the result of an executive order signed by Trump on the first day of the White House. The order calls on various agencies, such as the U.S. State Department, to help identify “countries that review and screen information so insufficient to guarantee partial or complete suspension.”

Trump also tried to determine how many people from these countries were accepted during the Biden administration, and could retroactively suspend their visas.

Trump campaigned actively last year, resuming his travel ban set in his first term. He described it as an "incredible success" in preventing terrorist attacks.

The backstory of the first ban was long and complicated.

In December 2015, when he first ran for president, Trump issued a dramatic statement calling for "all closures of Muslims entering the United States". Then, a few days after his first office on January 27, 2017, Trump signed an executive order banning travel from seven Muslim-majority countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. The ban is technically temporary - the text specifies 90 days.

But the outcry was direct and quick. There was chaos at the airport and at the protests as people with existing visas were detained. The term “Muslim” was not mentioned in Trump’s executive order, but critics say it was clearly done during his campaign. The ban faces legal challenges. And was blocked by the court.

The Trump administration has made some minor changes to remove Iraq from the list and allow exceptions for green card holders and those with visas. But the court also beat the revised version.

Ultimately, after several revisions, in the summer of 2018, the Supreme Court supported Trump's travel ban with a 5-4 ruling. In the third iteration maintained by the court, Trump expanded the list of banned travelers beyond Muslim majority countries, including people from North Korea and Venezuelan government officials.

On the day he took office in 2021, then-President Joe Biden lifted Trump's travel ban. He signed a presidential announcement titled “The end of the discriminatory ban when he finally entered the United States.”

But now it seems that this is only temporary.