Immigrants and potential visitors from dozens of counties were still waiting Friday for news of a travel ban from President Donald Trump, with some debating whether heading to the United States now would be a good idea.
Although a draft list was reportedly leaked to The New York Times, showing 43 countries to be targeted, no official list has been made public yet, after Trump issued an executive order on January 20 asking multiple cabinet members to put options forward by March 21.
Newsweek reached out to the White House for comment via email Friday afternoon.
Trump Promised Another Travel Ban
If a ban were to go into effect, it is likely that travel from designated countries would be barred completely or heavily restricted, just as the previous Trump administration tried to do through what became known as the Muslim Ban.
“The problem is that the world doesn’t fit into a box, people don’t fit into a box,” Nuri Katz, CEO and founder of Apex Capital Partners, which works with wealthy clients who move around the world. “If you try to create a box, like this list of countries which are bad, you come up with all sorts of different situations which don’t fit into this box.”
As Newsweek explored in February, when the previous travel ban went into effect in 2017, some foreign nationals were in the air on their way to the U.S. when the ban took effect, including refugees.
The policy was swiftly challenged by advocacy groups and was in and out of the courts during Trump’s first term. Experts said they believed that was why the White House was taking its time in 2025, but Trump would likely impose a ban as he had touted it on the campaign trail.
“I will ban refugee resettlement from terror-infested areas like the Gaza Strip, and we will seal our border and bring back the travel ban,” Trump said in October 2024. “Remember the famous travel ban? We didn’t take people from certain areas of the world. We’re not taking them from infested countries.”
Afghan Visa Holders Rushed to the US
One of the countries reported to be on the list is Afghanistan. While that may make sense to some following the Taliban’s return to power when the U.S. withdrew during former President Joe Biden’s term, many Afghans have been granted special visas to head to the U.S. for the part they played in helping American troops.
The organization No One Left Behind has been working to get as many of those with Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs) to the U.S. after the Trump administration ended programs that would fly them over and offer support on arrival.
“For many of them, they fled the Taliban or they fled ISIS and, quite frankly, just don’t have the financial means, because they left their life behind,” Andrew Sullivan, the organization’s executive director, told Newsweek.
So far, over 800 flights have been booked by the organization, and 750 individuals have made it to the U.S. before a ban is implemented.
“I’m an Iraq and Afghanistan veteran. They are interpreters that served alongside me every day, they are people that fought alongside our troops, served alongside our diplomats for years,” Sullivan said.
“They should not be included in any kind of ban. We know who they are. They are our brothers and sisters in arms, and so our view is that they should be exempt from any ban.”
Wealthy Foreigners Debate US Travel
This time around, it appears that majority Muslim countries are not the only target of a travel ban. Immigrants from Central and Southern America, including the Caribbean, and those from Russia may also be affected.
Katz, who has clients in Russia and the Caribbean, said some have told him they are anxious over what new restrictions could mean. One example is a Russian family, living in Europe, that has one American citizen child and another who had been accepted into an Ivy League summer business program this summer.
“The parents wanted to come and bring the other child, the American citizen, and they started panicking because the list Russia was on said only affluent people would be given visas or would be allowed in,” Katz said. “So, the question is, do those visas get cancelled? The next question is, who is affluent? Is only the father affluent, is the mother not? Is she poor?”
Katz said he also had a Ukrainian family currently seeking citizenship in the Caribbean through a citizenship-by-investment program. They also called him, worried that by becoming citizens in a country on a visa ban list, they could be banned from entry to the U.S. despite Ukraine not being on the reported list. For now, the situation remains unclear.
The stories shared by Katz highlight the breadth of the impact a potential travel ban could have, affecting the wealthy who have residences in multiple countries through to tourists, and those who have been displaced from their home countries.
Potential Political Fallout for Trump
Venezuela and Cuba were also on the reported list. Until recently, nationals from both countries could enter the U.S. through the humanitarian parole program, after vetting by U.S. authorities, or be given permission to remain under Temporary Protected Status (TPS) if they had entered the country illegally.
Dr. Rebecca Bill Chavez, president and CEO of Inter-American Dialogue, told Newsweek that there was potential political fallout for the president if the reported list is implemented.
“Many of Trump’s constituents, his voters, members of Congress are from South Florida that represent, Cuban Americans, Venezuelan Americans, the idea that their loved ones, their family members, their close family will be completely barred from entering the U.S., I think, is going to cause some serious concern and potential opposition to these policies,” Chavez said.
Inter-American Dialogue works to promote dialogue between countries across the Americas, but Chavez said a travel ban could hinder this when she believes driving down migration and drug trafficking requires countries to work together.
“It’s not going to help the image of the U.S. in the region,” Chavez said. “But if I’m looking at the administration over the past weeks, what it has prioritized in the region, which has been largely the deportation of immigrants living in the United States, this seems consistent with that, and it could be a source of leverage.”
Katz also noted this, pointing to reported conditions to be placed on countries on a “yellow list” which would require them to address concerns the U.S. has in order for it to lift travel and visa restrictions. He said that while that might work on some smaller nations, such as those in the Caribbean, he did not think every other foreign government or citizen impacted would necessarily care.
“Not every member of the Taliban is going to be really upset that he won’t be able to go and see the Hollywood sign in California,” Katz said. “I don’t think a lot of the world is offended by the way that America throws its weight around. I think that in most cases, people will just accept it and say ‘OK I won’t go to America!'”
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