Trump Travel Ban 2.0: About to be Banned Again

It’s not set in stone, but rumors have it that the Trump administration is considering yet another travel ban to prevent nationals of certain countries from entering the United States.

I had to be reminded of the first travel ban, recalling only the travel bans in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19.  I guess it was so long before that I forgot about the travel bans that were issued at the beginning of the first Trump presidency.  In 2017, Trump executed a series of executive orders to ban nationals of predominantly Muslim countries from traveling to the United States. 

The first order banned people from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen.  However, it was challenged in court.  Instead of defending the order, a second, revised order was issued to exempt those from the countries who already had visas and green cards.  Then came the third order, expanding the list of countries to Venezuela and North Korea while still including 5 of the 6 countries, replacing Sudan with Chad. 

Now, this proposed travel ban is much, much broader than the first with 43 countries on a list divided into 3 color-coded groups: red, orange, and yellow.  With a couple notable exceptions, the red, and most restricted group, contains all the countries from the 2017 travel bans plus 3 additional countries – Afghanistan, Bhutan, and Cuba.  All travel is presumed to be completely banned for people from these countries. 

Next up is the orange group consisting of the following 10 countries for which visas are supposed to be sharply restricted:

It’s been reported that only some nationals from these countries, such as affluent business travelers, may be granted visas, but certainly not all like those who want to visit the United States for reasons such as going to Disney World.

Finally, there are the 22 countries that make up the yellow group and have 60 days to address the purported immigration concerns of their own before nationals from these countries will be permitted to travel to the United States or else.

Non-compliance could result in these countries either being moved up to the red or orange group or perhaps fall off the list altogether if their “deficiencies” – selling citizenship to people from banned countries, information sharing with the U.S., inadequate security practices to name a few – are addressed to the administration’s liking.

Iraq no longer appears in any list for any one group while Chad, which was once considered by the Trump administration to be a country warranting a complete ban on their nationals traveling to the U.S., has been downgraded to a country that will receive sharp restrictions when contemplating the issuance of a U.S. visa.

The overall directive for the State Department to identify countries “for which vetting and screening information is so deficient as to warrant a partial or full suspension on admission of nationals from those countries” stems from the “Protecting the United States from Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats” executive order signed on January 20, 2025.  The reasoning behind which countries landing in which group is unclear, but characteristics can be drawn from the countries potentially involved in this more far-reaching ban when they were never apart of the 2017 list during the president’s first time in office.

Not only have predominately Muslim countries been targeted again, but there are a host of countries that one may deem to be poor or non-white or have governments considered corrupt.  Still there are some countries that do not fit these molds yet there is no obvious explanation for their inclusion in a potentially partial or full travel ban. For example, how does Bhutan, a landlocked country in the eastern Himalayas, factor into the equation of “protect[ing] American citizens from aliens who intend to commit terrorist attacks, threaten national security, espouse hateful ideology or otherwise exploit the immigration law for malevolent purposes[?]”

Like much of the uncertainty that non-U.S. citizens in and travelers to the U.S. have been experiencing in recent weeks with the deportation of the Brown University doctor, the cancellation of the Columbia university protestor’s green card, the detention of the Canadian seeking entry in TN status, it is difficult to know exactly how a Trump 2.0 travel ban will play out if and when it is set into motion.

There are many questions surrounding whether this potential ban will apply to people with existing visas or whether these people will be exempt or have their visas cancelled.  Will current green card holders, who have already been approved for lawful permanent residence, be targeted as well?  And since these 3 groups of lists are only a draft, there is the potential to see other countries not already identified as posing a threat to America included in a final ban.

After the first 2 of the 3 travel bans in 2017 were blocked by the courts and the third one stuck, one thing is certain: this second presidency has learned from the first one, now knowing how to craft a ban that can withstand court challenge.  Though with presidential immunity granted by the Supreme Court, the dismantling of virtually entire agencies without Congressional approval by the stroke of a pen, and the deportation of Venezuelan citizens in the face of flagrant disregard for judges’ orders, court challenges might not even matter when it comes to the administration getting its way with yet another travel ban. 

Disclaimer: The information provided in this blog post is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.  While efforts are made to ensure the content is accurate and up to date at the time of publication, laws and regulations may change, and the information may no longer be current.  You should consult a qualified legal professional for advice specific to your situation.