Trump’s new travel ban: The notable countries omitted – amid anger over ‘moral disgrace’
Donald Trump has banned people from 12 countries entering the US, in a move he said protects against “foreign terrorists” and other security threats.
Some countries are subject to a full travel ban, while others are under a partial ban – with the order allowing countries to be removed or added from the list.
The proclamation is due to come into effect just after midnight on 9 June local time.
The ban echoes one in 2017 that Mr Trump implemented in his first term in the White House. This banned citizens from seven predominantly Muslim countries – Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen – from travelling to the US.
Here is everything you need to know.
Which countries are affected?
The proclamation bans nationals from the following countries to travel to the US:
• Afghanistan
• Myanmar
• Chad
• Republic of the Congo
• Equatorial Guinea
• Eritrea
• Haiti
• Iran
• Libya
• Somalia
• Sudan
• Yemen.
The following seven countries are affected by a partial ban:
• Burundi
• Cuba
• Laos
• Sierra Leone
• Togo
• Turkmenistan
• Venezuela.
Both bans will affect foreign nationals from the designated countries who are outside the US on 9 June or do not have a valid visa.
Visas issued before 9 June when the law comes into force will remain valid, the proclamation states.
How many people come to the US from these countries?
From October 2023-September 2024 (the fiscal year), the US handed out more than 60,000 permanent visas to the 12 countries on the permanent ban list, according to data from the US Department of State.
The highest by far was to people from Afghanistan – 39,055 – with the most going to nationals who are employed by or on behalf of the US government and their immediate family members.
Under the new proclamation, Afghan nationals who hold special immigrant visas – people who worked most closely with the US government during the two-decade war there – are exempt from the ban.
The figures below do not include people who were given temporary visas.
Are there any exemptions?
Mr Trump said on Thursday that policy was a “key part of preventing major foreign terror attacks on American soil”.
His new list notably leaves out Syria, after Mr Trump met its leader recently on a trip to the Middle East.
Athletes competing in the 2026 World Cup, 2028 Olympics and other major sporting events will also be exempt.
The ban also does not apply to the following individuals:
• Diplomats travelling on valid non-immigration visas
• Immediate family members who hold immigrant visas
• People who have been adopted
• Afghan nationals holding special immigrant visas
• People who hold immigrant visas for ethnic and religious minorities facing “persecution in Iran”
• Dual nationals who have citizenship in countries not included in the travel ban
Why has the ban been introduced?
The proclamation states that 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.
In a video posted to social media, Mr Trump said an attack in Colorado, in which eight were injured, 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”.
The suspect in the attack is from Egypt, a country that is not on Mr Trump’s restricted list, but homeland security claimed he had overstayed a tourist visa.
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 White House said some of the named countries had a “significant terrorist presence” and accused others of poor screening for dangerous individuals and not accepting deportees.
Critics, however, suggest the move is really designed to further cultivate hostility to immigrants in general, and that the president’s claim it is driven by security concerns is a lie.
What has the reaction been?
International aid groups and refugee resettlement organisations have condemned the new travel ban.
“This policy is not about national security – it is about sowing division and vilifying communities that are seeking safety and opportunity in the United States,” said Abby Maxman, president of Oxfam America.
The inclusion of Afghanistan has also angered some supporters, who have worked to resettle its people. Over a 12-month period to September 2024 there has been an estimated 14,000 arrivals from Afghanistan.
Travel ban protesters at Washington Dulles airport in 2017. Pic: Reuters
Mr Trump suspended refugee resettlement on his first day in office.
Shawn VanDiver, president and board chairman of the organisation #AfghanEvac, labelled the proclamation a “moral disgrace”.
“To include Afghanistan – a nation whose people stood alongside American service members for 20 years – is a moral disgrace,” he said.
“It spits in the face of our allies, our veterans, and every value we claim to uphold.”
Meanwhile, the Iranian government offered no immediate reaction to being included on the list.
What happened in 2017?
Mr 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 being held at US airports when they landed.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
Mr Trump denied it was Islamophobic, despite calling for a ban on Muslims entering America in his first presidential campaign.
The ban 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”.
I knew Donald Trump when he was nothing.
Nothing like he is today, to be precise.
It was the 18 April 2006, and he had landed by helicopter at St Andrew’s, on his way to survey a stretch of Aberdeenshire coastline he was going to turn into a golf course.
He duly delivered and “Trump International” is a stunning addition to Scotland’s golfing real estate, alongside his other course at Turnberry.
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What do Scots think of Trump visit?
Back in 2006, Trump was big time and big news.
He was the brand built on property and showbiz and, upon arrival, the star of TV’s The Apprentice breezed his way through our interview, obliging us by pointing down the barrel of the camera and delivering his trademark “you’re fired”.
We talked investment, Scottish roots and some local objections to the golf course.
I said it was all a bit like the film Local Hero, which likened him to the rich guy played by Burt Lancaster and he seemed happy enough.
Innocent times.
In 2006, the host of The Apprentice delivering his trademark ‘you’re fired’ finger point while visiting Aberdeenshire. File pic: PA
Donald Trump promoting his plans for a golf course on the Menie Estate near Aberdeen in 2010
Fast forward 20 years to President Trump and we are braced for his latest return ‘home’. For this son of Scotland (his mother is from the Isle of Lewis), it’s a homecoming from hell. Hellish on security logistics, at least.
You might think a trip to the old country would carry an element of triumph, wrapped in a nation’s pride. He’s the prodigal who made president, after all – think Biden, Ireland, and the rock star welcome rolled out there for one of their own.
Not so for President Trump. The dynamic’s different with the Donald – the heartland he’ll visit isn’t loved up, it’s locked down. Same as it ever was, whenever he lands in Scotland.
The US president at his Turnberry course in 2023 amid tight security. PA file pic
File pic: PA
Hundreds of extra police officers have been drafted from around the country to hermetically seal his golf courses in Turnberry and Aberdeenshire. A private trip in two very public settings demands a huge security operation, complicated by an army of protestors mobilising for what they’re calling a “carnival of resistance”.
Demonstrations are planned over a range of causes – organisers cite “threats” to democracy, climate, the global economy and more.
Protestors in 2023 gather at Trump’s Turnberry resort during his visit. File pic: PA
Demonstrations, like this one in 2018, near Turnberry require policing. File pic: AP
Comic Simon Brodkin, appearing in character as Lee Nelson, is led away by security during an anti-Trump protest at Turnberry in 2016. File pic: Reuters
There is no cause untouched by a president of the US and none forgotten by this weekend’s protests.
Scotland leans left of Donald Trump, and critics will lean into an effort to let him know.
It’s an awkward setting for a charm offensive by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Scotland’s First Minister John Swinney.
As the biggest show in politics rolls into town, they will polish the script on trade negotiations, wary of a president distracted, unpredictable and prone to changing the plot.
His distraction, of course, is the political drama back home.
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Trump will welcome a weekend under the radar as an opportunity to escape the Jeffrey Epstein controversy, but there’s every chance the story will travel with him.
Daily efforts to steer the media away from the scandal haven’t stemmed the flow of persistent enquiry and revelations that cement Trump’s relationship with Epstein in the public consciousness, and so further raise questions of cover-up.
Donald Trump likes a wall. And now he has his very own 15ft-high metal barrier creating a fortress as he tees off for a weekend of politics, play and precision in Scotland.
An almost surreal contrast now exists in the tiny Ayrshire village of Turnberry.
On one side, the stunning coastline and luxury hotel that bears the president’s name. And on the other, an armed buffer zone with sniper teams and road checkpoints.
This visit is unlike those that have gone before.
The threat level and associated security on display is unprecedented following the attempted assassination of Trump at a campaign rally in the US.
“It would be inappropriate for me to plan an operation and not bear in mind what has happened,” the senior officer in charge of this weekend’s policing efforts told me.
Military trucks are part of a security effort that comes just a year after an attempted assassination
A ‘counter terror’ firm was spotted near the area, which is ringed by a 15ft fence
Turnberry, and its population of about 200 people, have this week witnessed a never-ending stream of Army trucks, terrorist sweeps, road checkpoints, airspace restrictions, sniper positions being erected and Secret Service agents roaming around.
It is the most extensive security deployment in Scotland since the death of the late Queen in 2022.
It is estimated around 5,000 officers will be on the streets, with teams coming from across the UK to assist.
The spectacle primarily centres on Donald Trump coming to play golf before the arrival of Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer for talks, likely on Monday.
The president, whose mother was born on the Scottish island of Lewis, is then scheduled to travel to his Aberdeenshire resort where a new golf course is set to open.
Police on buggies are patrolling near the course on Scotland’s east coast
Police have even taped off a clothes recycling bin near the course
‘Trump is a decent boss’
Stephanie Campbell and Leanne Maxwell live in Turnberry and used to work at the Trump-owned resort, like many other locals.
The pair told Sky News the very first lesson staff at the resort are given is not in fine service or guest etiquette, but in how to respond to a bomb threat.
It is claimed there are posters above the landline phones in the hotel with instructions on the worst-case scenario.
Stephanie Campbell and Leanne Maxwell say staff are trained in dealing with bomb threats
Stephanie told Sky News: “I had no issues working for him, he is a really decent boss.
“The last time he came there was an element of excitement, I think this time there comes with an added element of concern.
“It brings a lot higher threats and security and it’s much more difficult for everybody in the area.”
Mr Trump at Turnberry in 2018 – he will also visit his Aberdeen course on this trip. Pic: AP
File pic: Reuters
Echoing her concerns, Leanne told Sky News: “Security is obviously being bumped up. It’s quite worrying. He’s quite a man, ain’t he?”
Sweeps of the rooms are carried out by US Secret Service agents after housekeeping staff complete their duties and Trump’s meals, they say, are prepared by a personal chef to avoid the risk of poisoning.
To the outside world, these measures seem standard for a US president. But to those who live in Turnberry, it’s far from normal when they have a date with the commander-in-chief.
Marine One is in place awaiting the president’s arrival
File pic: Reuters
Awkward encounters
Prestwick Airport has become something of an American airbase in recent days.
The infamous armoured limousine, known as “The Beast”, has been spotted being wheeled out of a US military plane as the presidential motorcade prepares for his arrival tonight.
Greeting the president at the doors of Air Force One will be the secretary of state for Scotland, Ian Murray, who previously supported a motion alleging Trump was guilty of “misogynism, racism and xenophobia”.
Another awkward encounter could come in the form of Scottish First Minister John Swinney’s showdown with Mr Trump next week.
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The SNP leader, who publicly backed Kamala Harris in the presidential race, called for September’s state visit to be scrapped after the Ukrainian president’s visit to the White House descended into a shouting match live on TV earlier this year.
Demonstrations are planned throughout the weekend, with marches and protests announced in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen.
Kirsty Haigh, from Scotland Against Trump, claims the president uses Scotland to “cleanse his image” and he should not be able to use the country as an “escape” from his views.
She told Sky News: “He should not be welcomed by us, by our leaders.
“We want to see a Scotland that is very different than [the] America that’s being created.”
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