Trump expands travel ban, restricting entry from Haiti and 18 other countries

President Donald J. Trump on Wednesday signed a sweeping immigration proclamation that blocks or limits the entry of nationals from 19 countries, including Haiti, citing perceived national security risks, visa overstay rates and lack of cooperation with U.S. vetting protocols.

The proclamation, rooted in Executive Order 14161 issued earlier this year, fully restricts entry from 12 countries, including Haiti, Iran and Afghanistan. An additional seven countries, including Cuba and Venezuela, face partial restrictions. The policy echoes and broadens the controversial travel ban of Trump’s first term, upheld in the 2018 Trump v. Hawaii ruling.

“We will restore the travel ban, some people call it the Trump travel ban, and keep the radical Islamic terrorists out of our country that was upheld by the Supreme Court,” President Trump said in a White House statement.

According to the White House, the restrictions were issued after the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and other national security agencies conducted a risk assessment of foreign governments’ screening practices and security cooperation.

The administration cited Haiti’s visa overstay rates and lack of centralized law enforcement data as key concerns. According to the Fiscal Year 2023 DHS Overstay Report, Haitians holding B1/B2 visitor visas overstayed at a rate of 31.38%. Among student and exchange visa holders, the overstay rate was 25.05%.

“Haiti lacks a central authority with sufficient availability and dissemination of law enforcement information necessary to ensure its nationals do not undermine the national security of the United States,” the proclamation states.

Trump’s proclamation also included the unsubstantiated claims that an influx of “hundreds of thousands of illegal Haitian aliens” during the previous administration created risks of “criminal networks and other national security threats.”

The Trump administration cited the President’s authority under Section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act as its legal basis. The same provision was used in the earlier travel ban, upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled the policy was “squarely within the scope of Presidential authority.”

Some exceptions

While sweeping in scope, the order makes some exceptions. Lawful permanent residents, existing visa holders, and those granted visas serving U.S. national interests will still be allowed entry.

The administration stated that the ban is intended to pressure governments to enhance their vetting systems and cooperate more fully with the U.S.

Advocacy groups and immigration attorneys are expected to challenge the proclamation. Haitian American leaders have previously denounced similar restrictions, saying they disproportionately target Black and Muslim-majority countries and compound hardship for families seeking safety or opportunity in the U.S.

Last Friday, the Supreme Court lifted a lower court order that kept humanitarian parole protections in place for more than 500,000 migrants from four countries: Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela, leaving many facing an uncertain and potentially dangerous future.

“I hope they [Trump administration] can rethink this and find another path,” a Brooklyn Haitian man who chose to remain anonymous due to privacy concerns, told The Haitian Times earlier this week regarding the Supreme Court’s decision. 

“There’s not a person that wouldn’t want to return to Haiti,” he said in Creole, “but the way the country is right now with insecurity and everything that’s ravaging it, people have [no choice] but to leave.”

Additional reporting by Dany Pierre from Brooklyn College Haitian Studies Institute’s Ayiti in the City program.

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