Image source, EPA

Donald Trump's migration policies are back in the headlines, after he banned citizens from 12 countries from travelling to the US, with another seven countries facing partial travel restrictions.

The ban is not really a surprise, our correspondent Anthony Zurcher says. Trump did similar during his first term and promised to do it again if he was re-elected.

But for people affected by the ban, it’s still a shock. Some have told the BBC that being banned from travelling to the US puts them in danger.

"We stood by US forces and now we are suffering," an Afghan in hiding tells us.

Others, though, say the bans - which are put down, generally, to poor vetting and people overstaying visas - is "common sense". Travelling to the US is a "privilege, not a right", Congressman Clay Higgins told the BBC this morning.

Looking ahead, the travel ban is expected to face legal challenges - although one professor says it will be upheld by the Supreme Court.

You can read more about the travel ban here, with expert legal opinion here. That’s all from our live coverage today. Thanks for ing us.

Gabriela Pomeroy
Live reporter

Image source, Zarifa Ghafari

Zarifa Ghafari's life has been turned upside down by the travel ban. She has an Afghan port and is studying at Cornell University in New York state.

But Ghafari - who was a politician in Afghanistan before fleeing the Taliban - is currently in for the summer with her young child.

Now she has a "frantic" race back to the US before the travel ban comes in in four days' time. If not, she won’t be able to continue her studies in the US, she tells me.

The ban has put her under "immense pressure", she says, and makes her feel "very vulnerable."

What makes it worse, she adds, is she regularly has to return to every few months to maintain her residency status there, too. She worries about how she will do that when the travel ban comes in.

• Trump's executive order states: "The Taliban, a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) group, controls Afghanistan. Afghanistan lacks a competent or cooperative central authority for issuing ports or civil documents and it does not have appropriate screening and vetting measures. According to the Fiscal Year 2023 Department of Homeland Security [report]... Afghanistan had a business/tourist (B-1/B-2) visa overstay rate of 9.70 percent and a student (F), vocational (M), and exchange visitor (J) visa overstay rate of 29.30 percent."

Barbara McQuade, professor of law at the University of Michigan Law School, tells BBC Newshour "it seems to me that President Trump has learnt a lot from the mistakes he made the first time around" (when nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries were banned in 2017).

McQuade, who is also a former US attorney, says that last time it "caused chaos at the border".

"This time he [Trump] is giving some advance notice before it becomes implemented... and the first time around it included lawful permanent residents or Green Card holders, people who had established status in the United States, which courts found to be a violation of the constitution.

"This time I think there has been more thought given into this... this time we see a mix of countries, not just Muslim-majority countries...

"It seems to me very likely that it will ultimately be upheld by the [US] Supreme Court," Prof McQuade adds.

BBC Mundo
By José Carlos Cueto

"Things get harder by the day."

It’s a phrase I’ve heard from fellow Cubans for as long as I recall. It’s rarely an exaggeration.

In the same week, Cubans faced two severe setbacks: a sharp internet price hike by state-run ETECSA, straining further their already limited and pricey connectivity, and a partial US visa ban imposed by Donald Trump’s istration (Cuba is one of seven countries with new partial restrictions).

"My son’s father migrated [to the US] three years ago. They have not been able to meet up again since and now I don’t know when that will happen again.

"With the new internet prices, they can’t even see each other as much in a videocall," a friend in Cuba tells me.

Roughly 1.3 million Cuba-born individuals live in the US. The impact on divided families will be enormous.

A few thousand privileged people with dual citizenship—mostly Spanish—may by the ban.

For the rest in an island of around 10 million inhabitants, it’s a door slammed in the face of hopes to migrate or reunite.

• Trump's executive order states: "Cuba is a state sponsor of terrorism. The Government of Cuba does not cooperate or share sufficient law enforcement information with the United States. Cuba has historically refused to accept back its removable nationals. According to the Overstay Report, Cuba had a B-1/B-2 visa overstay rate of 7.69 percent and an F, M, and J visa overstay rate of 18.75 percent."

BBC Mundo

The travel restrictions on Venezuela (it it on the list of seven countries with a partial ban, alongside Cuba, Laos, and others) is yet another blow to Venezuelans.

It adds to previous measures taken by Trump, such as revoking TPS — a status that protected 350,000 Venezuelans residing in the United States.

"We are not criminals," said one Venezuelan man who asked to remain anonymous. "Nothing surprises me anymore, but every day a new line is crossed."

"We’ve gone from being a powerful country to being the lowest of the low," he added.

"Not only is it unfair, it is deeply inconsistent," wrote Venezuelan journalist Alejandra Oraá on X. She lives in the US.

"Many Venezuelans have had to leave precisely because their rights and freedoms were taken away by the [Maduro] regime — the same one this [Trump] istration claims to be fighting."

We also heard about a woman who was visiting her daughter in Miami after seven years apart.

"Now she has to return home with the painful uncertainty of when she’ll see them again," her nephew told us.

It is difficult and expensive for Venezuelans to obtain a tourist or student visa. The US embassy in Caracas has been closed since 2019, forcing applicants to travel to a third country to apply.

• As a reminder, Trump's executive order says: "Venezuela lacks a competent or cooperative central authority for issuing ports or civil documents and it does not have appropriate screening and vetting measures. Venezuela has historically refused to accept back its removable nationals. According to the Overstay Report, Venezuela had a B 1/B-2 visa overstay rate of 9.83 percent."

Image source, EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

Even before Trump's Oval Office meeting with Merz had concluded, Elon Musk had responded to criticism from the president.

Trump said Musk was against his "Big Beautiful Bill" because of its plans to do away with tax credits for electric vehicles. As a reminder, Musk is the CEO of electric vehicle maker Tesla.

On X, Musk said: "Whatever. Keep the EV/solar incentive cuts in the bill, even though no oil & gas subsidies are touched (very unfair!!), but ditch the MOUNTAIN of DISGUSTING PORK in the bill.

"Either you get a big and ugly bill or a slim and beautiful bill."

In a separate post, Musk disputed Trump's claim that Musk knew the details of bill as as such was surprised by his public opposition to it.

"False, this bill was never shown to me even once and was ed in the dead of night so fast that almost no one in Congress could even read it!" he wrote.

• NB: In US politics, "pork barrel", or "pork", refers to government spending designed to attract or shore-up from particular politicians, constituencies, or interest groups.

Image source, Reuters

Trump and Merz have just concluded speaking to the media, the pair will now discuss the next steps in bringing the Ukraine war to an end away from the cameras.

We heard a little bit from Trump on the travel ban - he says it has been put in place for countries "out of control", adding "it can't come soon enough".

To follow along with key developments from the meeting between the US president and German chancellor, we have a live page dedicated to their conversation.

Trump says he had a two-hour conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, during which he says he gave his counterpart the analogy of two children fighting in a park.

"Sometimes you're better off letting them fight for a while," he says.

Trump says it is proving difficult to stop the war because there is "a lot of bad blood" between the two countries and great hatred between Putin and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Trump turns to the war in Ukraine, after being asked whether he will consider further sanctions on Russia.

"When I see the moment when we're not going to make a deal, when this thing won't stop," he replies.

The president is then asked if there's a deadline. "It's in my brain," he says.

"When I see the moment it's not going to stop, we're going to be very tough. It could be on both countries. It takes two to tango," he says.

Image source, EPA

Trump is still speaking with Merz at the White House, we're not hearing more on the travel ban but his attention turns to Elon Musk.

The US president is asked about Musk's criticism of the president's "big, beautiful" tax and spending bill.

For context: Musk posted to social media that the bill was an "abomination"

The president says he's always liked Musk, and was surprised to see the criticism.

Trump says the bill is incredible and a "huge tax cut", and he'd rather Musk criticise him than the bill - it's his view that Musk is upset because the istration took out the Electric Vehicle (EV) mandate.

Musk knew this from the beginning, Trump says, but he knows it "disturbed" him.

Trump also reveals that Musk recommended someone he knows to run Nasa, but Trump says he didn't think it was appropriate.

"I can understand why he's upset," Trump says.

"Elon and I had a great relationship, I don't know if we will anymore," Trump says - adding that Musk is not the first to leave his istration and "some get hostile", labelling it "Trump derangement syndrome".

Trump is asked "why now" on his travel ban announcement.

He says "it can't come soon enough" and says he is cleaning up the mess left by former President Joe Biden who, he claims, "allowed some horrendous people into the US".

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from the White House

At the start of the meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the Oval Office, Trump is asked why the list of banned countries does not include Egypt - the country from where the suspect in the recent Boulder, Colorado attack comes from.

Trump says Egypt "has things under control".

He adds that the ban applies only to countries that "don't have things under control".

"We want them out," he adds. "And we want them out quickly."

Image source, Reuters

Donald Trump is meeting German Chancellor Friedrich Merz at the White House - we've just seen the pair shake hands.

As they made their way inside, Trump told the media he "loves the people of " and that his call with President Xi of China went "very well".

We're listening into the latest from the White House and will bring you key developments if Trump speaks on the travel ban.

The BBC is also providing coverage of the meeting between the US and German leaders over in our live page.

Image source, Reuters

In response to Trump's travel ban, Chad's President Mahamat Déby says he has instructed his government to stop issuing visas to US citizens.

As a reminder, Chad is one of the 12 countries that will see a total ban on travel from 9 June.

"Chad has no planes to offer, nor billions of dollars to give but Chad has its dignity and its pride,” the president says.

The White House has said Chad's high visa overstay rates is the main reason for the travel ban.

But Chad's Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Sabre Fadoul earlier told the AFP news agency that his country's government is "surprised by this announcement and even more by the terrorism-related reason (which) completely disregards Chad's commitment and results in this area".

It's worth noting though, that Trump did not mention terrorism as a reason for the travel ban on Chad.

As we mentioned earlier, Chad has seen frequent periods of instability and fighting, most recently between government forces and Islamist groups.

Travellers outside John F Kennedy International Airport in New York have reacted with a range of responses to the US travel ban.

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from the White House

When discussing the travel ban, we're likely to hear of Trump's istration use what has become a common phrase at the White House: "promises made, promises kept".

The re-instatement of the travel ban is an issue that came up repeatedly during his ultimately successful 2024 presidential campaign.

In July, for example, Trump told attendees at a rally in Minnesota that he would "restore the travel ban, suspend refugee issions, stop the resettlement and keep the terrorists the hell out of our country."

At a second campaign event, Trump again said he planned to ban people from "terrorist-infested" nations as part of an effort to "seal our borders".

The ban also ties into his efforts to seal the US-Mexico border - a key part of his platform, and one which the White House is often eager to discuss.

That includes the partial bans on Venezuelan and Cuban citizens, for example, notably two of the nationalities that for a time made up a large percentage of arrivals at the southern border during the Biden istration - headlines that ultimately helped propel Trump back into the White House.

Somalia - branded by Donald Trump as a "terrorist safe haven" - is one of the 12 countries on the US travel blacklist.

Speaking to the BBC Somali Service, these two residents of the capital, Mogadishu, expressed their anger over the latest move by the US president.

"I would tell Trump to stop discriminating against Somalis. Somalis are part of the world; it is a recognised country and well-known in the world," says Abdullahi Roble Ahmed.

Kasim Haji Mohamed argues that everyone now is living in "a globalised world" where "people are connected".

"It is beautiful that they can travel together, interact with each other - so it is noticeable that the economic, security, and diplomatic consequences of this [decision] are a burden for us".

Kasim also voices hope that Trump will "review the file on Somalia" and even visit the East African nation.

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from the White House

Image source, Bernd Debusmann Jr/BBC

Yesterday's proclamation of the new travel ban took place behind closed doors, away from the prying eyes and questions of the media.

Most of us who were here at the White House had already left for the day when the news broke, forcing a mad scramble back to desks and laptops.

We haven't heard from President Trump directly on the ban - but we will in just a few hours.

At 11:30 EST (16:30 BST), Trump is scheduled to receive German Chancellor Friedrich Merz at the White House.

The arrival will quickly be followed by an Oval Office meeting which is open to some of the White House press "pool" today.

These occasions often turn into extended question-and-answer sessions, and while the focus could be on the US- relationship, Ukraine and tariffs, the travel ban is likely to dominate questions from US reporters in the room.

At 16:00 EST, he is scheduled to hold a roundtable discussion with of the Fraternal Order of Police union. Given that Trump has framed the ban partly as a public safety measure, it's possible we'll hear more about it from him then.

Stay with us for more updates.

Trump's travel ban should not be a surprisepublished at 15:05 British Summer Time 5 June

15:05 BST 5 June

Anthony Zurcher
North America correspondent

Even if the timing of Donald Trump’s new travel ban came as a surprise, the fact that the White House has taken this step again should not.

While the announcement on a Wednesday evening was not trailed by the White House in advance, this action is similar to the one Trump ultimately landed in his first term, after his initial efforts were blocked in federal court because they were deemed to be discriminatory.

Because of this, opponents may find it difficult to block the move with lawsuits the way they have with some of Trump’s other policies in recent months. It also may explain why the shock and outcry from other nations is more muted this time around. A travel ban, in some form, was largely expected after Trump secured the presidency for another term last November.

The White House is already framing the ban as part of its larger America First immigration policy – one that officials say makes the safety and security of the nation a top priority. Critics will disagree, and note the arbitrary and shifting nature of the specific justifications for the bans, but Trump’s immigration policies remain popular for many, including his political base.

Neha Gohil
Live reporter

Steven D Heller, an immigration lawyer based in the US, says there are questions around whether the high rates of people overstaying their visas, as claimed by the White House, provides a “rational basis” for the travel ban.

Speaking to the BBC, Heller says there is a lack of clarity around how the istration defines people who overstay their visa and what threshold of overstay rates must be met for a country to be placed on Trump’s ban list.

“If they’re relying on this notion of excessive overstay rates... they have to define what that actually means,” he says.

Heller says the “vagueness” in the ban could be the basis for a successful legal challenge but adds a law called the Immigration and Nationality Act gives “pretty broad delegation of authority to the executive”.