Immigration & Border Control
During my first Administration, I restricted the entry of certain foreign nationals into the United States to prevent national security and public safety threats from reaching our borders. The Supreme Court upheld these restrictions. I reinstated these successful policies in Executive Order 14161 of January 20, 2025 (Protecting the United States From Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats), and Proclamation 10949 of June 4, 2025 (Restricting the Entry of Foreign Nationals To Protect the United States From Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats). It is the policy of the United States to protect its citizens from foreign nationals who intend to commit terrorist attacks, threaten our national security and public safety, incite hate crimes, or otherwise exploit the immigration laws for malevolent purposes. The United States must exercise extreme vigilance during the visa-issuance and immigration processes to identify, prior to their admission or entry into the United States, foreign nationals who intend to harm Americans or our national interests. The United States Government must ensure that admitted aliens do not intend to threaten its citizens; undermine or destabilize its culture, government, institutions, or founding principles; or advocate for, aid, or support designated foreign terrorists or other threats to our national security. In order to protect our Nation, as directed in Executive Order 14161, the Secretary of State, in coordination with the Attorney General, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the Director of National Intelligence, identified countries throughout the world for which screening and vetting information was so deficient as to warrant a full or partial suspension of the admission of nationals from those countries pursuant to section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), 8 U.S.C. 1182(f). Accordingly, in Proclamation 10949, I restricted the entry of foreign nationals into the United States from countries with deficient screening and vetting information to protect the national security and public safety of the United States and its people. The proclamation also directed the United States Government to immediately engage countries identified in the proclamation on measures that must be taken to comply with the screening, vetting, immigration, and security requirements of the United States. Despite those engagements, most of the countries identified in Proclamation 10949, as well as others, continue to exhibit woeful inadequacies in screening, vetting, and provision of information. At least one country lacks mechanisms in hospitals to ensure births are reported, and widespread corruption, combined with a general lack of vetting and poor recordkeeping, result in any non-citizen being able to obtain any civil document from that country, particularly if that person is willing to pay a fee or engage an individual that specializes in assisting in such fraud. In that same country, law enforcement records are not maintained with the accuracy or consistency necessary to provide representations of individuals’ criminal histories to the United States Government. In another country, civil documents like marriage licenses and birth certificates are handwritten and stamped on regular paper, making them highly susceptible to alteration, and there is a fraudulent document market that produces all types of falsified records, making written corroboration of any visa application practically impossible. In yet another country, criminal records are widely unreliable and inaccessible. And in another, United States visas are used as a tool for illicit transborder movement of assets by corrupt government officials and organized criminal groups. Corruption in another country even extends to the national school system, which has provided falsified diplomas and grade information in the past to fraudsters who have tried to obtain student visas and eligibility for large athletic scholarships. The government of another country refuses to provide passport exemplars, undermining the United States Government’s ability to detect fraudulent documents. In another country, the population, for the most part, does not formally document life events. This makes effective verification of basic biographical data such as birthdates, marriages, and parentage exceedingly difficult, if not impossible. Such countries warrant continued or new travel restrictions. Further, after continuing their review, and in light of the experience gained since the issuance of Proclamation 10949 and the reaction of foreign countries to the issuance of that proclamation, the Secretary of State, the Attorney General, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the Director of National Intelligence have identified additional countries that cannot meet basic criteria for identifying their nationals and residents who pose national security and public safety threats and for sharing information with the United States. For example, only 40 percent of one country’s territory is under complete government control, and officials there have noted that their ability to securely process, house, or monitor non citizens is constrained. In another country, corruption in various forms is pervasive. Other countries have been subject to successful efforts to overthrow or undermine their governments, with the result that radical terrorist groups operate with minimal, if any, interference from law enforcement, engaging in forced labor, sex trafficking, illegal drug manufacturing and distribution, and other activities that destabilize such countries. And, because of the poor documentation practices and corrupt governments in these countries, there can be little assurance that the foreign nationals from these countries who seek to come to America on immigrant or nonimmigrant visas are not bringing these criminal enterprises with them to the United States. According to United States law enforcement reporting, foreign nationals from countries named in this proclamation have been involved with crimes that include murder, terrorism, embezzling public funds, human smuggling, human trafficking, and other criminal activity. Many of these countries are ranked in the top third of countries for criminality, and widely unreliable foreign civil documents and lack of authoritative criminal information make it extremely difficult for United States screening and vetting authorities to assess prior criminal activity and other grounds of inadmissibility. Finally, some of these countries have offered Citizenship by Investment (CBI) without residency, which poses challenges for screening and vetting purposes. As an example, a foreign national from a country that is subject to travel restrictions could purchase CBI from a second country that is not subject to travel restrictions, obtain a passport in the citizenship of that second country, and subsequently apply for a United States visa for travel to the United States, thus evading the travel restrictions on his or her first country. Additionally, United States law enforcement and the Department of State have found that, historically, CBI programs have been susceptible to several risks. These risks include allowing an individual to conceal his or her identity and assets to circumvent travel restrictions or financial or banking restrictions. Foreign nationals from the countries described above have also exploited the historic generosity of the United States and violated our Nation’s immigration laws by not adhering to the terms of their nonimmigrant or immigrant visas. As cited in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Entry/Exit Overstay Report, foreign nationals from many countries have high nonimmigrant visa overstay rates. These visa overstays and other abuses flagrantly violate United States immigration laws, despite generous incentives offered by my Administration — for example, the ability to self-deport using the CBP Home app. To faithfully uphold United States immigration law, the flow of foreigners from countries with high overstay rates or significant fraud must stop. In addition, the implementation of Proclamation 10949 counsels narrowing the categorical exceptions described in that proclamation to prevent exploitation by foreign nationals. For example, immigrant visas for family members of individuals in the United States will no longer be a broad categorical exception. As described above, the countries to which this proclamation applies have persistent, chronic vetting deficiencies that impede conclusive admissibility determinations and that are readily exploitable to threaten United States national security and public safety. These deficiencies include poor civil documentation and recordkeeping practices, widespread corruption and fraud, unreliable or inaccessible criminal records, and unreliable government travel documents. These pervasive risks concerning nationals from the covered countries apply with at least equal force to family-based visa applications — which comprise most of the immigrant visa applications from such countries — and potentially with even greater force. Familial ties can serve — and, in the past, have in fact served, based on concrete information provided by United States law enforcement and the Department of State — as unique vectors for fraudulent, criminal, or even terrorist activity through means such as the domestic or international financing of such activity. Broadly excepting most immigrant visa applicants from the countries whose risks and deficiencies most gravely threaten America is inconsistent with protecting our national security and with the purpose of driving greater cooperation and vetting improvements by these specific countries. This is particularly true in light of the large numbers of individuals granted United States immigration status during the prior administration without sufficient documentation and vetting mechanisms in place, whose family members might take advantage of such an exception, just as criminals have taken advantage of family-based visas in the past. Accordingly, I have determined that the risks from the classes of aliens covered by this proclamation cannot be satisfactorily mitigated absent resolution of the predominating country-specific concerns, and any extraordinary cases can be appropriately addressed through the national-interest exceptions provided for in this proclamation and Proclamation 10949. As a result of these reviews and considerations, I have decided — as described in sections 2 and 3 of this proclamation — to continue to impose and modify the limitations set forth in sections 2 and 3 of Proclamation 10949 on the entry into the United States by certain classes of foreign nationals. Also, I have decided — as described in sections 4 and 5 of this proclamation — to impose the limitations set forth below on the entry into the United States by certain other classes of foreign nationals. NOW, THEREFORE, I, DONALD J. TRUMP, President of the United States of America, by the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including sections 212(f) and 215(a) of the INA, 8 U.S.C. 1182(f) and 1185(a), and section 301 of title 3, United States Code, hereby find that, absent the measures set forth in this proclamation, the immigrant and nonimmigrant entry into the United States of persons described in sections 2, 3, 4, and 5 of this proclamation would be detrimental to the interests of the United States, and that their entry should be subject to certain restrictions, limitations, and exceptions. I therefore hereby proclaim the following: Section 1. Policy and Purpose. (a) It is the policy of the United States to protect its citizens from terrorist attacks and other national security and public safety threats. Screening and vetting protocols and procedures associated with visa adjudications and other immigration processes play a critical role in implementing that policy. These protocols and procedures enhance our ability to detect foreign nationals who may commit, aid, or support acts of terrorism, or otherwise pose a safety threat, and they aid our efforts to prevent such foreign nationals from entering the United States. (b) Identity-management and information-sharing standards and practices of foreign governments impact the effectiveness of the screening and vetting protocols and procedures of the United States. Foreign governments manage the identity and travel documents of their nationals and residents. They also control the circumstances under which they provide information about their nationals and residents to other governments, including information about known and suspected terrorists and criminals. It is, therefore, the policy of the United States to take all necessary and appropriate steps to encourage foreign governments to improve their identity-management and information-sharing protocols and procedures and to regularly share their identity and threat information with the screening and vetting systems of the United States. (c) Proclamation 10949 directed the United States Government to fully restrict and limit the entry of nationals of the following 12 countries: Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen. The proclamation directed the United States Government to partially restrict and limit the entry of nationals of the following 7 countries: Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela. Additionally, the proclamation directed the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Attorney General, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the Director of National Intelligence, to immediately engage each of the countries identified in the proclamation on measures that must be taken to comply with United States screening, vetting, immigration, and security requirements. (d) Proclamation 10949 directed the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Attorney General, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the Director of National Intelligence, to submit a report to the President, through the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security, describing his assessment and recommending whether any suspensions and limitations imposed by the proclamation should be continued, terminated, modified, or supplemented. (e) The Secretary of State, with the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security, presented the report described in subsection (d) of this section, recommending that entry restrictions and limitations continue to apply to foreign nationals of several countries. The report also identified additional countries for which vetting and screening information is so deficient as to warrant a full or partial suspension of admission. These recommendations follow the engagement with foreign countries that I directed in Proclamation 10949. (f) In evaluating the recommendations from the Secretary of State and determining whether and to what extent to impose, or continue to impose, restrictions for each country, I consulted with the Secretary of State, the Secretary of War, the Attorney General, the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Director of National Intelligence, appropriate Assistants to the President, and the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. I considered foreign policy, national security, and counterterrorism goals. I further considered various factors, including each country’s screening and vetting capabilities, information-sharing policies, and country-specific risk factors, including whether each country has a significant terrorist presence within its territory, its visa-overstay rate, and its cooperation with accepting back its removable nationals. Each of these factors, including visa-overstay rates, was just one of the factors considered in making the determinations in this proclamation, and the determinations in this proclamation are based on the totality of the circumstances with respect to each country after a review of all relevant factors. I also considered the different risks posed by aliens admitted on immigrant visas and those admitted on nonimmigrant visas. Persons admitted on immigrant visas are, or can become, lawful permanent residents of the United States. Such persons admitted on immigrant visas may present national security or public safety concerns that may be distinct from those admitted as nonimmigrants. The United States affords lawful permanent residents more enduring rights than it does to nonimmigrants. Lawful permanent residents are more difficult to remove than nonimmigrants, even after national security or public safety concerns arise, which increases the costs and aggravates the dangers of errors associated with admitting such individuals. And although immigrants are generally subject to more extensive vetting than nonimmigrants, such vetting is far less reliable when the country from which someone seeks to emigrate maintains inadequate identity-management or information-sharing policies or otherwise poses risks to the national security or public safety of the United States. I reviewed these factors and assessed these goals, with a particular focus on crafting country-specific restrictions. This approach was designed to encourage cooperation with the relevant countries in recognition of each country’s unique circumstances. The restrictions and limitations imposed by this proclamation are, in my judgment, necessary to prevent the entry or admission of foreign nationals about whom the United States Government lacks sufficient information to assess the risks they pose to the United States. The restrictions and limitations imposed by this proclamation are necessary: to garner cooperation from foreign governments, including as to reducing overstay rates of their nationals; enforce our immigration laws; and advance other important foreign policy, national security, and counterterrorism objectives. Under the current circumstances, without the restrictions and limitations imposed in this proclamation, the entry or admission of such foreign nationals is detrimental to the national interest. (g) After reviewing the report described in subsection (d) of this section, and after accounting for the foreign policy, national security, and counterterrorism objectives of the United States, I have determined to continue to fully restrict and limit the entry of nationals of the following 12 countries: Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen. These restrictions distinguish between, but apply to both, the entry of immigrants and nonimmigrants. (h) After reviewing the report described in subsection (d) of this section, and after accounting for the foreign policy, national security, and counterterrorism objectives of the United States, I have determined to fully restrict and limit the entry of nationals of 7 additional countries: Burkina Faso, Laos, Mali, Niger, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, and Syria. These restrictions distinguish between, but apply to both, the entry of immigrants and nonimmigrants. I have also determined to fully restrict and limit the entry of individuals using travel documents issued or endorsed by the Palestinian Authority (PA). (i) After reviewing the report described in subsection (d) of this section, and after accounting for the foreign policy, national security, and counterterrorism objectives of the United States, I have determined to continue to partially restrict and limit the entry of nationals of the following 4 countries: Burundi, Cuba, Togo, and Venezuela. I have also decided to modify the partial restriction and limitation on the entry of nationals of Turkmenistan. These restrictions distinguish between, but apply to both, the entry of immigrants and nonimmigrants. (j) After reviewing the report described in subsection (d) of this section, and after accounting for the foreign policy, national security, and counterterrorism objectives of the United States, I have determined to partially restrict and limit the entry of nationals of the following 15 countries: Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Cote d ‘Ivoire, Dominica, Gabon, The Gambia, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Tonga, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. These restrictions distinguish between, but apply to both, the entry of immigrants and nonimmigrants. (k) Sections 4 and 5 of this proclamation describe some of the identity-management and information-sharing inadequacies that led me to impose, or continue to impose, the restrictions described in this proclamation. These inadequacies are sufficient to justify my finding that unrestricted entry of nationals from the named countries would be detrimental to the interests of the United States. Publicly disclosing additional details on which I relied in making these determinations, however, would cause serious damage to the national security of the United States
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