US President Donald Trump signed a new travel ban on Wednesday June 4, 2025 banning 12 countries including Afghanistan, Iran and Yemen.

The directive is part of an immigration crackdown President Trump launched this year at the start of his second term.

The new law bans citizens from Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen from travelling to the US.

Trump said the measure was caused by a makeshift attack on a Jewish protest in Colorado, which US authorities blamed on a man they said was illegally in the United States.

The US President also gave a partial ban to travelers from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela. However, some temporary work visas from these countries will be allowed.

The bans go into effect on June 9, 2025, the White House said.

“The recent terror attack in Boulder, Colorado has underscored the extreme dangers posed to our country by the entry of foreign nationals who are not properly vetted,” Trump said in a video message.

However, the ban will not apply to athletes competing in the 2026 World Cup, which the United States is co-hosting with Canada and Mexico, and also the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

Trump, separately on Wednesday announced a ban on visas for foreign students who are set to begin attending Harvard University. 

The US president compared the new measures to the ban he imposed on a number of mainly Muslim countries in his first term. 

However, former President Joe Biden, a Democrat who succeeded Trump, had repealed that ban on nationals from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen in 2021.