President Trump signs travel ban targeting 12 countries with ‘hostile attitudes’ to the US
President Trump has signed an order banning people from 12 countries from entering the US.
He said Sunday’s attack in Colorado had shown “the extreme dangers” of “foreign nationals who are not properly vetted, as well as those who come as temporary visitors and overstay their visas”.
“We will not allow people to enter our country who wish to do us harm,” the president said.
The countries affected are: Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
The White House said some had a “significant terrorist presence” and accused others of poor screening for dangerous individuals, as well as not accepting deported citizens.
People from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela will face partial restrictions.
Mr Trump’s proclamation said America must ensure people entering don’t have “hostile attitudes toward its citizens, culture, government, institutions, or founding principles” – and don’t support terror groups.
Protests took place when Mr Trump announced his first travel ban in 2017. Pic: Reuters
The move echoes a controversial and chaotic order enacted eight years ago during his first term, when he banned people from predominately Muslim countries.
The countries initially targeted then were Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen.
President Trump said on Thursday that policy was a “key part of preventing major foreign terror attacks on American soil”.
His new list notably removes Syria after Mr Trump met the country’s leader recently on a trip to the Middle East.
Athletes competing in the 2026 World Cup and the 2028 Olympics will also be exempt, as will others such as permanent US residents and Afghans with special immigrant visas.
The list was put together after the president asked homeland security officials and the director of national intelligence to compile a report on countries whose citizens could pose a threat.
The ban takes effect from 9 June – but countries could be removed or added.
The proclamation states it will be reviewed within 90 days, and every 180 days after, to decide if it should be “continued, terminated, modified, or supplemented”.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
President Trump’s first travel restrictions in 2017 were criticised by opponents and human rights groups as a “Muslim ban”.
It led to some chaotic scenes, including tourists, students and business travellers prevented from boarding planes – or held at US airports when they landed.
Mr Trump denied it was Islamophobic despite calling for a ban on Muslims entering America in his first presidential campaign.
It faced legal challenges and was modified until the Supreme Court upheld a third version in June 2018, calling it “squarely within the scope of presidential authority”.
The family of a Mexican man shot last week at an immigration and customs facility in Dallas say he’s died, becoming the second detainee to be killed in the attack.
Police previously said one person was killed and two critically injured after a gunman opened fire at an ICE field office in the Texas city last Wednesday.
A bullet engraved with the phrase “ANTI-ICE” was found at the scene, the FBI said, with the attack being investigated as an act of “targeted violence”.
Miguel Angel Garcia-Hernandez, 32, died from his injuries after being removed from life support, his family confirmed in a statement shared by the League of United Latin American Citizens.
He is understood to have been one of the two detainees left in a critical condition following the attack on 24 September.
Officials previously said the first man killed was Norlan Guzman-Fuentes.
One of the bullet casings was engraved with ‘ANTI ICE’. Pic: Kash Patel/X
A handwritten note was also recovered after the shooting detailing the suspect’s desire to inflict “real terror” on US immigration agents, the head of the FBI said.
Joshua Jahn, 29, from Fairview in Texas, was found dead at the scene from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, said acting US attorney Nancy Larson.
“He very likely acted alone,” she added.
Read more:
Driverless Waymo car makes illegal U-turn in California
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro expands his powers
FBI director Kash Patel said the agency had seized devices and had processed “writings” obtained at the scene and in the suspect’s home since the attack.
A handwritten recovered note read: “Hopefully this will give ICE agents real terror, to think: ‘Is there a sniper with AP rounds on that roof?'”
Mr Patel said on X: “While the investigation is ongoing, an initial review of the evidence shows an ideological motive behind this attack.”
America’s military top brass have left their posts to attend a meeting with the US president and defence secretary about the “warrior ethos”.
Hundreds of officers travelled from around the world to attend the occasion at a marine corps base in Quantico, Virginia. It is a rare gathering of the US military’s top tier, all in the one place.
There has been much speculation about the substance of Tuesday’s meeting, given its scale and short notice with minimal explanation.
Donald Trump told NBC News, Sky’s US partner network, it is “really just a very nice meeting talking about how well we’re doing militarily, talking about being in great shape, talking about a lot of good, positive things”.
“We have some great people coming in, and it’s just an esprit de corps,” he said.
“You know the expression ‘esprit de corps?’ That’s all it’s about. We’re talking about what we’re doing, what they’re doing, and how we’re doing.”
Trump and Hegseth watch a US anniversary military parade in Washington in June. Pic: Reuters
‘Department of War’
The officers were summoned by defence secretary Pete Hegseth, who has adopted the slogan “Make America Lethal Again”. Ahead of the meeting, he has said his intention is to outline a new vision for the military and restore what he calls the “warrior ethos”.
Hegseth is the former TV presenter picked by Trump to run the defence department, now rebranded the Department of War. He has a military background, serving as an infantry officer in the National Guard.
His audience in Quantico will number the country’s most senior generals and admirals. Over 800 of the rank of brigadier-general and above will be there, along with their navy equivalents.
Read more from Sky News:
Netanyahu backs US peace plan
YouTube to settle lawsuit with Trump
Since he started in post, Hegseth has fired a number of senior officers. In May, he ordered a 20% cut in the number of four-star generals and admirals, and he targeted flag and general officers with a 10% reduction.
A controversial figure, Hegseth has accused some members of senior rank of being responsible for a woke culture and, in the past, has questioned the role of women in the military.
YouTube has agreed to pay $24.5m (£18.1m) to settle a lawsuit brought by Donald Trump after it banned his account following the January 6 Capitol riot.
The US president was suspended from the Google-owned platform over his role in the insurrection, which saw his supporters attempt to stop Joe Biden’s 2020 election win from being ratified.
More than four years on from the violent scenes that left a police officer dead, court documents filed on Monday revealed that $22m (£16.3m) from the settlement will go towards a trust for Washington DC’s National Mall and the construction of a White House ballroom.
The remainder will be paid to other parties involved in the case, including the American Conservative Union.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Capitol rioter: ‘I was convicted in a show trial’
Google declined to comment on the reasons for the settlement, which does not constitute an admission of liability.
Mr Trump’s YouTube account has been back online since 2023.
Read more from Sky News:
Trump wants to govern Gaza with Blair
Google’s parent company Alphabet is the third tech firm to settle with Mr Trump over what he perceived as an illegitimate muzzling of him online following the riot.
He was also suspended from Meta’s platforms and Twitter, moves which saw him gravitate towards his own social media platform – Truth Social.
The president and his supporters have falsely maintained that the 2020 election was stolen.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Trump: ‘Most Capitol rioters were innocent’
Meta – which owns Facebook and Instagram – agreed to pay $25m (£18.6m) to settle Mr Trump’s lawsuit, and X (what Twitter became after being bought by Elon Musk in 2022) settled for $10m (£7.4m).
Alphabet boss Sundar Pichai, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, and Mr Musk all attended Mr Trump’s inauguration this year, with the latter having been a key contributor to his 2024 election campaign.
He led the Trump administration’s cost-cutting DOGE unit during the early months of 2025.
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports3 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Sports3 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment12 months agoHere are the best electric bikes you can buy at every price level in October 2024