Gary O'Donoghue
Chief North America correspondent

We that during Donald Trump's first term, there was the well-known travel ban that became stuck in the courts before the Supreme Court finally approved it.

Now, Trump is trying again with a new ban, targeting around 12 countries for what he says are national security reasons.

He’s also mentioned the recent attack in Boulder, Colorado, which was carried out by an Egyptian national - but Egypt isn’t on the list, which is a bit perplexing.

There are some exceptions to the ban. People who worked for the American military in Afghanistan are exempt. Athletes are also exempt, as the US is hosting the World Cup and the Olympics in the next few years. Diplomats are included in the exceptions too.

But, just like the 2017 ban, it’s likely this new one will end up in court.

Many of Trump’s executive orders have faced legal challenges since he returned to office, and this one will probably be no different.

Wycliffe Muia
Reporting from Nairobi

Image source, AFP via Getty Images

The White House cites a high rate of people overstaying their visas as the main reason for banning travellers from Chad - a landlocked African country rich in gold and uranium.

It said the visa overstay rate for Chad was "unacceptable" and indicated a "blatant disregard" for US immigration laws. Authorities in Chad are yet to comment on the ban.

Located in north-central Africa, Chad has seen frequent periods of instability and fighting, most recently between government forces and Islamist groups.

The former French colony was the first of the states in West and Central Africa where the military seized power in recent years to hold elections.

These were won by President Mahamat Déby, who was first installed by the military in 2021 after his father, Idriss Déby, was killed in a battle with rebel forces after 30 years in power.

Azadeh Moshiri
BBC News

After the US withdrawal in August 2021, many Afghans are still waiting to be resettled. Some applications were already suspended in another executive order in January, and the Afghans we’ve spoken to see this as a sign their path to the US, and safety, is closing.

“I woke up to this shocking news. We stood by US forces and now we are suffering,” Babak, a former legal adviser to the Afghan Air Force, tells us. We are not using his real name, as he worries doing so could jeopardise his case.

The BBC has seen letters from the United Nations confirming his role, as well as a letter endorsing his asylum claim by a Lt Colonel in the US Air Force.

Babak tells me he has been moving his family from location to location in Afghanistan, desperately trying to stay hidden.

The Taliban government has previously told the BBC all Afghans could "live in the country without any fear". But a UN report in 2023 cast doubt on these assurances.

Shawn VanDiver from the non-profit #AfghanEvac welcomed exemptions in the travel ban but said they “don’t undo the damage of shutting the door on those who have already risked everything”.

He says there are 12,000 family “waiting to reunite with loved ones in the US”. According to #AfghanEvac, this ban affects Afghans who have already cleared background checks.

Alex Smith
Live reporter

As we've been reporting this morning, seven countries face partial travel restrictions, meaning people with certain visas from these countries won't be able to enter the US once the travel ban comes into effect.

These countries are: Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.

There are several different types of visas that you can apply for to temporarily enter the US. Under the new restrictions, residents of these countries will be unable to use six of these - including major ones covering business, tourism and study.

In the 2023 fiscal year, the six categories of temporary visa now suspended ed for nearly 90% of visas issued from these seven countries, according to publicly available data from the US State Department., external Under the new guidelines they would not be able to enter under the ban.

The percentage varies by country - from Cuba where 68.9% of temporary visas fit into these six categories, to Venezuela at 93.4%.

ing for a majority of temporary US visas is the B-1/B-2 visa, which allows entrants to enter for a combination of tourism and business. Worldwide this visa ed for around 60% of temporary US visas issued in the 2024 fiscal year.

That is included in the list suspended for these seven countries.

Nkechi Ogbonna
West Africa correspondent

The African Union Commission (AU) has expressed concern over the United States government's decision to impose new travel restrictions on nationals from seven African countries.

In a statement, the AU acknowledges the sovereign right of nations to protect their borders and ensure national security. However, it urges the US to apply such measures in a way that is balanced, based on evidence, and consistent with the longstanding partnership between Africa and the US.

“The commission remains concerned about the potential negative impact of such measures on people-to-people ties, educational exchange, commercial engagement, and the broader diplomatic relations that have been carefully nurtured over decades,” the statement reads.

The Africa body appeals to the US to engage in dialogue with the affected African countries to resolve issues that resulted in the ban and partial ban decisions.

Yesterday, the Trump istration placed a full travel ban on Congo Brazzaville, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Somalia, Chad, Sudan, and Libya. It also placed partial travel restrictions on Sierra Leone, Togo and Burundi - all of which it says pose a risk to its national security.

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Donald Trump has signed a ban on travel to the US from 12 countries as well as partial restrictions for seven other nations. This will come into effect from Monday, 9 June.

Which countries are affected?

Trump's istration is banning travel to the US from Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Congo-Brazzaville, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.

Partial travel restrictions will also be placed on Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.

Why has Trump announced a ban?

Trump has cited national security risks, saying he has considered each country's vetting capabilities, information sharing policy, "terrorist presence", visa-overstay rate and acceptance of "removable nationals".

The White House says the restrictions would "protect Americans from dangerous foreign actors", as Trump cites the recent alleged terror attack in Boulder, Colorado, as highlighting the need to properly vet foreign nationals.

What are the exemptions?

People from the affected countries may still be able to enter the US under several exemptions: athletes travelling for major sporting events; holders of immigrant visas for ethnic and religious minorities facing persecution in Iran; Afghan nationals holding special immigrant visas; lawful permanent residents of the US; dual nationals who have citizenship in countries not included in the ban.

The US president said the list could be revised if "material improvements" were made and additional countries could be added as "threats emerge around the world".

Image source, Getty Images

The announcement of a travel ban comes as President Trump seeks to deliver on a campaign pledge for the mass deportation of migrants.

Local media reports in New York say on Wednesday a handful of people were handcuffed and led away by officials after arriving for check-ins at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office in the city.

Last month the US Supreme Court allowed the Trump istration to terminate deportation protections for some 350,000 Venezuelans that were in the country under a scheme which allows people to work and live in the US if their home countries are deemed unsafe.

The US has also deported hundreds of people it alleges are gang to a prison in El Salvador.

Meanwhile, the government has started offering migrants who are in the country illegally $1,000 (£737) and paid travel if they decide to "self-deport" and leave the US.

Greg Swenson, chairman of Republicans Overseas UK, tells BBC News that the list of countries subject to the travel ban proves the White House is using a "common sense policy".

Swenson says he's surprised that Egypt wasn't on the list, which he its is a "little confusing".

"I think what the president has decided was that Egypt, despite having one particular incident from an illegal migrant, might have some policies that are in place which are better than other countries."

He says that some countries are subject to partial bans, "so this isn't an across the board ban on any country that [Trump] doesn't like or suspects they have a weak vetting process".

Travellers at Los Angeles International Airport have been reacting to the travel ban.

The Reuters news agency has spoken to people at the airport after the announcement was made.

Emery Makumeno
Reporting from Kinshasa

When people here in Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo first heard that "Congo" was on the list of countries affected by the travel ban, many initially assumed it applied to them.

It was only later that people realised the ban applied to Congo-Brazzaville - the country which lies on the opposite bank of the River Congo.

DR Congo is the much larger country - two-thirds the size of Western Europe - and is most often in the news with a rebellion in the east, while Congo-Brazzaville is far smaller, and quieter.

President Trump often lashes out against immigrants from Congo, who he says might be entering the US from mental institutions or are of criminal organisations - without clarifying which Congo he is referring to.

According to the White House, Congo-Brazzaville is on the list because around 30% of its nationals who go to the US overstay their visas.

DR Congo and the US are negotiating a deal, involving access to rare earth that will benefit the US high-tech industry, in exchange of security and development opportunities for the Congolese.

Any travel ban on DR Congo could have been viewed by the government here as a threat to any future trade agreement.

The travel ban announcement comes after a US judge ruled to temporarily halt deportation proceedings against the family of a man accused of the Colorado attack on Sunday.

As a reminder, as he announced the travel ban Donald Trump said the attack "underscored the extreme dangers" posed by foreign nationals who had not been "properly vetted".

The man accused of carrying out the attack, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, has been identified as an Egyptian national, but Egypt is not included on the list of banned countries.

Officials say his family, who are not charged in the attack, are Egyptian citizens.

US District Judge Gordon Gallagher, a Biden appointee, ordered deportation proceedings to be halted, a day after the White House said it had six one-way tickets to deport the wife and five children from the US.

Lawyers for the defence had accused the government of unfairly targeting the family, who say they were unaware of Soliman's alleged plans and have co-operated with investigators.

Image source, EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

From Monday, citizens from 12 countries - Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Congo-Brazzaville, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen - will be banned from travelling to the US.

Those from another seven countries - Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela - will be subject to a partial ban.

For most countries included on the list, the White House cites a mixture of visa overstay rates and political instability.

The sole reason mentioned for the bans affecting Congo-Brazzaville, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Burundi, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo and Turkmenistan, for example, are the percentage of people overstaying their US visa.

Other reasons frequently cited include nations previously not accepting "removable nationals", criticism of the authorities which issue ports in the country, or an inability to access criminal records of migrants.

Security concerns are also cited in the proclamation. The White House accuses Iran and Cuba of being a "state sponsor of terrorism", says there is a "historical terrorist presence" in Libya, and calls Somalia "a terrorist safe haven".

Meanwhile for Haiti, the proclamation says "hundreds of thousands of illegal Haitian aliens flooded into the United States during the Biden istration", which it says "harms American communities".

• The BBC team will be fact-checking the reasons behind the ban - you can follow their live page here

Image source, Reuters

After Donald Trump signed an executive order restricting foreign student visas at Harvard University, China's foreign ministry spokesperson says the country "opposes politicising education co-operation".

In its fact sheet following the order, the White House claimed Harvard was the top overseas "overseas party school" for Chinese Communist Party officials.

Speaking to reporters at a regular press briefing, Lin Jian says educational co-operation between the two countries is "mutually beneficial" and moves made by the US will "only harm its own image and international credibility".

Lin adds that China will "firmly safeguard the legitimate interests of its students and scholars overseas".

Dive deeper: The fallout from Trump's war on Harvard will long outlast his presidency, writes North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher

Image source, Reuters

Along with the announcement on a ban on travel to the United States from 12 countries, plus restrictions on seven more, a few other announcements were made by the US president on Wednesday:

Foreign student visas at Harvard suspended

Trump has suspended the entry of foreign students seeking to study or participate in exchange programmes at Harvard University for six months.

Trump says this is because of national security concerns, Harvard has called the order "retaliatory" and emphasised it would continue to protect its international students, according to the Reuters news agency.

Joe Biden's actions during his presidency investigated

The president has ordered an investigation into his predecessor's actions during his time in the White House, accusing Joe Biden's aides of a "conspiracy" to "deceive the public about Biden's mental state". Trump says the conspiracy "marks one of the most dangerous and concerning scandals in American history" - Biden says Trump's move is "ridiculous".

The White House says the travel ban will come into effect at 00:01 EST (05:01 BST) on 9 June - just under four days time.

It adds that key government officials will "immediately engage" with the countries affected by the order, "on measures that must be taken to comply with United States screening, vetting, immigration, and security requirements".

"President Trump has a mandate from the American people to address illegal and dangerous immigration," Congressman Clay Higgins of Louisiana tells the Today programme on BBC Radio 4.

Higgins, a Republican who sits on the House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee, says immigrants who have come to the US who were “not properly vetted” or overstayed their visas are "now in the country illegally".

He claims some of those who arrived in the US legally "have committed terrorist acts against our people".

Higgins is pressed as to why Egypt isn't on the list of banned countries - Trump cited an attack in Colorado at the weekend when announcing the travel ban. An Egyptian national, Mohamed Sabry Soliman, has been charged in the attack.

Travelling to the US is a "privilege, not a right", the congressman responds, claiming Americans have "had enough of immigrants coming to our country, violating our laws and committing violence among our people".

He adds that the US is "not a racist nation", saying: "We have the right to control our borders."

"This new travel ban mirrors much from the first Trump istration," Robyn Barnard from Human Rights First in Washington DC tells Newsday on the BBC World Service.

"There is no clear thread between each," she continues. "The commonalities are that many of these countries are places that people are fleeing due to conflict, violence and restrictive polices against women and girls and LGTBQ individuals and others."

Barnard goes on to describe Trump's list as "truly punitive", saying that the istration is trying to punish countries they don't want migrants from.

"It really feels like it's about punishment and creating more chaos and disfunction in our immigration system," she says.

Image source, Bloomberg via Getty Images

During his first term in the White House, Trump ordered a travel ban against people from seven Muslim-majority countries from coming to the US.

Critics called it a "Muslim ban", and the order faced several legal challenges.

It was amended several times before being upheld by the Supreme Court in 2018. Trump's successor Joe Biden repealed the order in 2021.

But this time around it's a savvier version, our North America correspondent Jake Kwon writes.

Last time a crucial question in the legal battle over the bill was whether it discriminated against travellers based on their religion.

This time, the order doesn't just target majority Muslim nations. Trump says the rationale for the countries chosen is based on visa overstay rates or political instability.

There are some similarities in the nations chosen. Iran, Libya and Somalia are among those featuring on both lists.

However there is a difference in how long the policy is due to last. Last time it was only 90 to 120 days, but today's has no end date.