President Donald Trump expanded his travel ban to include five additional countries following a wave of terror attacks across the globe.
Trump applied travel restrictions to Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen, and heightened restrictions on visitors from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela in June.
He expanded the ban Tuesday to include Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, South Sudan, and Syria, according to the White House. Travelers with documents from the Palestinian authority will also be banned from entry.
“The United States must exercise extreme vigilance during the visa-issuance and immigration processes to identify, prior to their admission or entry into the United States, foreign nationals who intend to harm Americans or our national interests,” the president’s proclamation states.
“The United States Government must ensure that admitted aliens do not intend to threaten its citizens; undermine or destabilize its culture, government, institutions, or founding principles; or advocate for, aid, or support designated foreign terrorists or other threats to our national security,” it adds.
It comes just days after a series of devastating terror attacks. The most recent of the attacks occurred in Sydney, Australia, where a father and son inspired by ISIS opened fire on Jewish community members celebrating Hanukkah on the beach, killing 15 individuals.
On Saturday, it emerged that two U.S. Army soldiers and a civilian interpreter — also American — had been killed in Syria by ISIS.
Last month, Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, who entered the U.S. in 2021 as part of President Joe Biden’s “Operation Allies Welcome,” allegedly shot two National Guardsmen who were deployed to Washington, D.C., as part of the Trump administration’s crime crackdown.
One of the soldiers, Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, 20, of the West Virginia National Guard, tragically succumbed to her injuries a day after the attack. Her colleague, West Virginia National Guardsman Andrew Wolfe, 24, is still recovering from his injuries.
