Myanmar included in new U.S. travel ban, citing security concerns
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Phyo (NP News) - June 5
Former U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday (June 4) signed a new travel ban targeting 12 countries, including Myanmar, Afghanistan, Iran, and Yemen, citing national security risks.
The order, which revives one of the most controversial policies from Trump's first term, comes in response to a recent incendiary attack at a pro-Israel demonstration in Colorado. Authorities blamed the attack on a man allegedly residing in the U.S. unlawfully.
The ban affects nationals from the following countries: Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen.
Additionally, a partial travel restriction has been placed on citizens of Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela.
The policy will take effect on Monday, June 9, 2025, according to the White House. Visas issued prior to that date will remain valid.
“We will not allow people to enter our country who wish to do us harm,” Trump said in a video posted on X, adding that the list could be updated to include more countries.
During his first presidency, Trump introduced a travel ban targeting several Muslim-majority countries. That measure, widely criticized as discriminatory, was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2018. It was later repealed by President Joe Biden in 2021, who called it “a stain on our national conscience.”
Trump said the new list is based on a combination of factors, including the presence of terrorist organizations, lack of cooperation with U.S. visa vetting procedures, poor identity verification systems, inadequate criminal record-keeping, and high visa overstay rates.
He pointed to the recent attack in Boulder, Colorado—where a man threw a gasoline bomb at a crowd of pro-Israel demonstrators—as justification for the new restrictions. The suspect, identified as Mohamed Sabry Soliman, an Egyptian national, reportedly overstayed a tourist visa and had an expired work permit although Egypt is not on the list of countries facing travel limits.