Trump banned citizens of 12 countries from entering the US. Here's what to know

President Donald Trump has banned travel to the U.S. by citizens of 12 countries and restricted access for those from seven others, citing national security concerns in resurrecting and expanding a hallmark policy from his first term that will mostly affect people from Africa and the Middle East.

The ban announced applies to citizens of Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. The heightened restrictions apply to people from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela who are outside the U.S. and don't hold a valid visa.

The policy took effect Monday and does not have an end date.

Here's what to know about the new rules:

Since returning to the White House, Trump has launched a campaign of immigration enforcement that has pushed the limits of executive power and clashed with federal judges trying to restrain him.

The travel ban stems from a Jan. 20 executive order Trump issued requiring the Department of State, Department of Homeland Security and the Director of National Intelligence to compile a report on “hostile attitudes” toward the U.S.

The aim is to “protect its citizens from aliens who intend to commit terrorist attacks, threaten our national security, espouse hateful ideology, or otherwise exploit the immigration laws for malevolent purposes,” the administration said.

In a video posted on social media, Trump tied the new ban to a terrorist attack Sunday in Boulder, Colorado, saying it underscored the dangers posed by some visitors who overstay visas. The man charged in the attack is from Egypt, a country that is not on Trump’s restricted list. U.S. officials say he overstayed a tourist visa.

Trump said nationals of countries included in the ban pose “terrorism-related” and “public-safety” risks, as well as risks of overstaying their visas. He also said some of these countries had “deficient” screening and vetting or have historically refused to take back their citizens.

His findings rely extensively on an annual Homeland Security report about tourists, businesspeople and students who overstay U.S. visas and arrive by air or sea, singling out countries with high percentages of nationals who remain after their visas expired.

“We don’t want them,” Trump said.

The inclusion of Afghanistan angered some supporters who have worked to resettle its people. The ban makes exceptions for Afghans on special immigrant visas, who were generally the people who worked most closely with the U.S. government during the two-decade war there.

The list can be changed, the administration said in a document, if authorities in the designated countries make “material improvements” to their own rules and procedures. New countries can be added "as threats emerge around the world.”

The State Department instructed U.S. embassies and consulates on Friday not to revoke visas previously issued to people from the 12 countries listed in the ban.

In a cable sent to all U.S. diplomatic missions, the department said “no action should be taken for issued visas which have already left the consular section” and that “no visas issued prior to the effective date should be revoked pursuant to this proclamation.”

However, visa applicants from affected countries whose applications have been approved but have not yet received their visas will be denied, according to the cable, which was signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

And, unless an applicant meets narrow criteria for an exemption to the ban, his or her application will be rejected starting on Monday.

Early in Trump’s first term, he issued an executive order banning travel to the U.S. by citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries, including 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 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 “Muslim ban” or the “travel ban,” was retooled amid legal challenges until a version was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2018.

That 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.

Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro’s government condemned the travel ban, characterizing it in a statement as a “stigmatization and criminalization campaign” against Venezuelans.

Chad President Mahamat Deby Itno said his country would suspend visas for U.S. citizens in response to the ban.

Aid and refugee resettlement groups also denounced it.

“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.

But reactions to the ban ran the gamut from anger to guarded relief and support.

In Haiti, radio stations received a flurry of calls Thursday from angry listeners, including many who said they were Haitians living in the U.S. and who accused Trump of being racist, noting that the people of many of the targeted countries are Black.

Haitian-American Elvanise Louis-Juste, who was at the airport Sunday in Newark, New Jersey, awaiting a flight to her home state of Florida, said many Haitians wanting to come to the U.S. are simply seeking to escape violence and unrest in their country.

“I have family in Haiti, so it’s pretty upsetting to see and hear,” Louis-Juste, 23, said of the travel ban. “I don’t think it’s a good thing. I think it’s very upsetting.”

William Lopez, a 75-year-old property investor who arrived from Cuba in 1967, supports the travel ban.

“These are people that come but don’t want to work, they support the Cuban government, they support communism,” Lopez said at a restaurant near Little Havana in Miami. “What the Trump administration is doing is perfectly good.”

Associated Press reporters Evens Sanon in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and Dánica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Regina Garcia Cano in Caracas, Venezuela, Steve Karnowski in Minneapolis and Gisela Salomon in Miami contributed.

A traveler pushes a luggage cart through the international arrivals area at the international airport in Los Angeles, Friday, June 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

An Afghan man passes in front of an air travel agency in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, June 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

A woman walks in a market in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, June 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

FILE - Afghan refugees hold placards during their meeting to discuss situation after President Donald Trump paused the U.S. refugee programs, in Islamabad, Pakistan, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed, File)

A cyclist passes in front of the former US embassy while a vendor waits for customers, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, June 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

An Afghan person passes in front of an air travel agency in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, June 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

CLEVELAND (AP) — Keyonte George scored 32 points, Lauri Markkanen added 28 and the Utah Jazz bounced back after a 55-point loss and defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers 123-112 Monday night.

George had 16 points during the third quarter, when Utah rallied from a 10-point deficit and regained control and began its five-game road trip with a victory. George also was 12 of 12 at the free throw line and had nine assists.

The win was the Jazz’s second in their past eight games and came two nights after a 150-95 loss to the Charlotte Hornets, the second-largest by scoring margin in franchise history and the biggest since they moved from New Orleans in 1979.

Markkanen, 10th in the league in scoring at 27.8 points per game, also had 12 rebounds. Jusuf Nurkik, who missed the last two games due to a toe injury, had 11 points and 17 rebounds.

Darius Garland led Cleveland with 23 points and Donovan Mitchell scored 21. The Cavaliers have dropped two of three.

PACERS 98, CELTICS 96

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Pascal Siakam scored 21 points, including the decisive 7-foot bank shot with 6.1 seconds remaining, and Indiana won three straight games for the first time this season, beating Boston.

Boston’s Derrick White missed a go-ahead 3-point attempt in the final seconds. He had tied the game at 96-all on a driving layup with 28.6 seconds remaining.

Siakam pump-faked and stepped inside the foul line for the high-arcing leaner that banked through in the final seconds. He also had eight rebounds and six assists.

The Pacers began the night with the NBA’s worst record but improved to 9-31, one-half game better than the New Orleans Pelicans. They were without forward Bennedict Mathurin (17.8 points per game), sidelined by a thumb injury for a fifth consecutive game.

Jay Huff had 20 points, including four 3-pointers, for the Pacers.

Payton Pritchard led the Celtics with 23 points and eight assists. White had 18 points and Anfernee Simons 16.

76ERS 115, RAPTORS 102

TORONTO (AP) — Tyrese Maxey scored 33 points, Joel Embiid had 27 and Philadelphia used an 80-point first half to beat Toronto.

VJ Edgecombe and Paul George each scored 15 points as the 76ers bounced back from Sunday’s overtime loss to Toronto to win for the sixth time in eight games.

Embiid (left knee and left groin) and George (left knee) were back in the lineup after sitting out Sunday.

Fans chanted “We want Lowry!” in the fourth quarter, then rose for a standing ovation when former Raptors player Kyle Lowry checked in for Maxey with 1:57 left to play.

Lowry starred for the Toronto team that won the 2019 NBA championship. He airballed a 3-pointer on his first attempt and missed all three shots he took.

Immanuel Quickley scored 18 points and Brandon Ingram had 17 points and 10 rebounds. Scottie Barnes scored 15 points for Toronto.

MAVERICKS 113, NETS 105

DALLAS (AP) — Cooper Flagg scored 27 points and matched a season high with three steals, and Naji Marshall had three straight baskets down the stretch and finished with 22 points as Dallas beat Brooklyn.

The Mavericks (15-25) snapped a two-game skid. Klay Thompson scored 18 off the bench and matched a season high with six 3-pointers.

Michael Porter Jr. scored 28 points and Day’Ron Sharpe had 14 points and 12 rebounds off the bench for the Nets (11-26), who have lost four consecutive games. They were swept in a road back-to-back, losing 103-98 at Memphis on Sunday.

KINGS 124, LAKERS 112

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) —Malik Monk made seven 3-pointers and scored 26 points to help Sacramento Kings to a win over Los Angeles.

DeMar DeRozan had 32 points and six assists for the Kings (10-30), who won their second straight after a seven-game skid. Russell Westbrook, who played 78 games for the Lakers in 2023, added 22 points and seven assists.

It was the Kings’ first home win against the Lakers since March 13, 2024.

Luka Doncic paced the Lakers with 42 points, seven rebounds and eight assists. It was the seventh 40-point game of the season for the NBA’s leading scorer.

LeBron James had 22 points on 8-for-17 shooting that included missing all five attempts from 3-point distance.

DeAndre Ayton scored 13 points to reach 7,000 for his career. Jaxson Hayes added 12 points for the Lakers (23-11), who have lost two straight since winning three in a row.

CLIPPERS 117, HORNETS 109

INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — Kawhi Leonard scored 35 points and James Harden had 32 to move into ninth place on the NBA’s career scoring list, and the Los Angeles Clippers beat Charlotte for their fourth win in five games.

Jordan Miller added 14 points and Ivica Zubac had nine points and 11 rebounds for the Clippers.

LaMelo Ball had 25 points and nine rebounds to lead the Hornets in their third loss in four games. Kon Knueppel scored 18 points, Moussa Diabaté had 13 points and 15 rebounds, Brandon Miller also scored 13 and Miles Bridges 11.

Cleveland Cavaliers center Evan Mobley (4) blocks a shot by Utah Jazz forward Kyle Filipowski (22) in the second half of an NBA basketball game in Cleveland, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)