President Donald Trump’s recent order imposing a travel ban on citizens from 12 countries is now in effect, coinciding with escalating political tensions regarding the administration’s strict anti-immigration policies.
The prohibition, described by Trump as crucial for preventing the entry of ‘terrorists,’ was first announced last week and took effect on Monday.
This restriction revives earlier measures from Trump’s first term when travelers from several majority-Muslim nations were barred from entering the U.S. Many of the countries included in this new ban are already suffering from war and significant displacement of their populations.
Despite the potential impacts of the travel ban, no immediate disruptions were reported at Los Angeles International Airport shortly after its implementation, according to the Associated Press.
The order specifically targets citizens of Afghanistan, Chad, Eritrea, Equatorial Guinea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Myanmar, the Republic of the Congo, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen. In addition, stricter requirements have been placed on individuals from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela.
President Trump stated that the countries facing the most stringent restrictions were identified based on a perceived ‘large-scale presence of terrorists,’ their lack of cooperation on visa security, and their inability to verify traveler identities.
Furthermore, these countries have been deemed inadequate in maintaining criminal history records and exhibit high rates of visa overstays in the United States, as per Trump’s claims.
Importantly, the ban does not retract previously issued visas for individuals hailing from the affected nations, as clarified in guidance distributed by the administration to U.S. diplomatic missions.
However, it remains uncertain how these regulations will be enforced at entry points into the country. Previous travel bans during Trump’s first term generated confusion and significantly disrupted travel plans for many.
In Trump’s announcement of this new restriction, he cited a recent ‘terrorist attack’ targeting Jewish individuals in Colorado as a motivating factor.
The incident occurred during a protest in solidarity with individuals held in Gaza and involved an Egyptian man who the White House reported had overstayed his visa.
Trump asserted that this attack ‘underscored the extreme dangers’ posed by foreign nationals entering the U.S. without thorough vetting processes.
He further cautioned that new countries could be added to the ban as additional global threats surface.
While the list of affected countries does not include Egypt, it nonetheless raises significant concerns regarding the implications for international relations and human rights, as noted by Volker Turk, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
In conjunction with the travel ban, Los Angeles has witnessed substantial protests against immigration enforcement, which have intensified in response to Trump’s aggressive policy measures.
Over the weekend, the President ordered the deployment of 2,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles County in an effort to curb the protesting crowds, a move that bypassed the authority of California’s governor and greatly heightened tensions in the region.
Thousands took to the streets on Sunday, blocking major freeways and igniting fires in vehicles to express their frustration with the immigration raids.
In response, law enforcement deployed tear gas, rubber bullets, and flashbangs to disperse the demonstrators.
By early Monday, authorities had declared downtown Los Angeles an ‘unlawful assembly’ zone and issued orders to clear the area.
California Governor Gavin Newsom has requested that the Trump administration reconsider its order to send National Guard troops into the city.
This deployment marks a significant political moment, as it is believed to be the first occurrence in 60 years that a President has sent a state’s National Guard into action without the governor’s consent since President Lyndon B. Johnson deployed troops during the civil rights movement in 1965.
Despite the escalating situation, officials from the Trump administration have leveraged the hardline immigration enforcement stance as a popular measure among Trump’s base, declaring a crackdown on what they have labeled an ‘insurrection’ and a ‘migrant invasion.’
image source from：https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/6/9/us-travel-ban-takes-effect-amid-la-protests-against-immigration-crackdown
