The Pathfinder
Wednesday December 17, 2025
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President Donald Trump on Tuesday signed a proclamation significantly expanding travel restrictions to the United States, citing deficiencies in foreign governments’ “screening, vetting, and information-sharing.”
Nigeria is among 15 additional countries newly subject to partial entry limitations.
The policy, detailed in a White House fact sheet titled “President Donald J. Trump Further Restricts and Limits the Entry of Foreign Nationals to Protect the Security of the United States,” aims to protect national security through “common sense restrictions based on data.”
This action follows Trump’s October 31st designation of Nigeria as a ‘country of particular concern’ over allegations of a Christian genocide.
The new proclamation continues full restrictions on nationals from the original 12 countries listed in Proclamation 10949, Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen.
It adds full restrictions on five new countries: Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, South Sudan, and Syria, as well as individuals holding Palestinian-Authority-issued travel documents. Laos and Sierra Leone, previously under partial restrictions, now face full bans.
The proclamation also imposes partial restrictions on 15 new countries: Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, Dominica, Gabon, The Gambia, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Tonga, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. Nationals from Burundi, Cuba, Togo, and Venezuela remain under partial restrictions.
The White House notes that exceptions exist for lawful permanent residents, existing visa holders, certain categories like athletes and diplomats, and individuals whose entry serves U.S. national interests. Family-based immigrant visa provisions with high fraud risks have been narrowed, though case-by-case waivers remain possible.
In explaining the rationale, the fact sheet quotes President Trump directly: “It is the President’s duty to take action to ensure that those seeking to enter our country will not harm the American people.”
It cites systemic challenges in subject countries, including “widespread corruption, fraudulent or unreliable civil documents and criminal records, and nonexistent birth-registration systems,” which prevent accurate vetting.
Other cited issues include refusal to share passport or law-enforcement data, Citizenship-by-Investment schemes that bypass vetting, high visa-overstay rates, and the presence of terrorist or criminal activity.
The administration framed the move as fulfilling a campaign promise, stating, “President Trump is keeping his promise to restore travel restrictions on dangerous countries and to secure our borders.”
It referenced a prior Supreme Court ruling upholding similar restrictions as “squarely within the scope of Presidential authority.”
Finally, the fact sheet noted that Turkmenistan, previously restricted, has made sufficient progress in cooperation.
The new proclamation lifts the ban on its nonimmigrant visas while maintaining the suspension of entry for Turkmen nationals as immigrants.
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