WASHINGTON â President Donald Trump resurrected the travel ban policy from his first term, signing a proclamation Wednesday night preventing people from a dozen countries from entering the United States.
The countries include Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
In addition to the ban, which takes effect at 12:01 a.m. Monday, there will be heightened restrictions on visitors from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.
âI must act to protect the national security and national interest of the United States and its people,â Trump said in his proclamation.
The list results from a Jan. 20 executive order Trump issued requiring the departments of State and Homeland Security and the Director of National Intelligence to compile a report on âhostile attitudesâ toward the U.S. and whether entry from certain countries represents a national security risk.
Ten of the 19 countries under the bans and restrictions are in Africa, nine of those from majority Black African countries. Several of those, including Sierra Leone, Togo, and Equatorial Guinea, are not known for hosting armed groups that pose a major threat to the West.
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During his first term, Trump issued an executive order in January 2017 banning travel to the U.S. by citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries: Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen.
It was one of the most chaotic and confusing moments of his young presidency. Travelers from those nations were either barred from getting on their flights to the U.S. or detained at U.S. airports after they landed. They included students and faculty as well as businesspeople, tourists and people visiting friends and family.
The order, often referred to as the âMuslim banâ or the âtravel ban,â was retooled amid legal challenges, until a version was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2018.
The ban affected various categories of travelers and immigrants from Iran, Somalia, Yemen, Syria and Libya, plus North Koreans and some Venezuelan government officials and their families.
Trump and others defended the initial ban on national security grounds, arguing it was aimed at protecting the country and not founded on anti-Muslim bias. However, the president called for an explicit ban on Muslims during his first campaign for the White House.
President Donald Trump speaks Wednesday during a summer soiree on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington.
New move targets Harvard University
Trump also moved to block nearly all foreign students from entering the country to attend Harvard University, his latest attempt to choke the Ivy League school from an international pipeline that accounts for a quarter of the student body.
In an executive order signed Wednesday, Trump declared that it would jeopardize national security to allow Harvard to continue hosting foreign students on its campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
âI have determined that the entry of the class of foreign nationals described above is detrimental to the interests of the United States because, in my judgment, Harvardâs conduct has rendered it an unsuitable destination for foreign students and researchers,â Trump wrote in the order.
Itâs a further escalation in the White Houseâs fight with the nationâs oldest and wealthiest university. A federal court in Boston blocked the Department of Homeland Security from barring international students at Harvard last week. Trumpâs order invokes a different legal authority.
It stems from Harvardâs refusal to submit to a series of demands made by the federal government. It escalated recently after the Department of Homeland Security said Harvard refused to provide records related to misconduct by foreign students.
Harvard says it complied with the request, but the government said the school's response was insufficient.
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