New Trump travel ban could bar Afghans, Pakistanis from US

WASHINGTON: A new travel ban by President Donald Trump could bar people from Afghanistan and Pakistan from entering the U.S. as soon as next week based on a government review of countries’ security and vetting risks, three sources familiar with the matter said.

The three sources, who requested anonymity, said other countries could also be on the list but did not know which ones.

The move harkens back to the Republican president’s first term ban on travelers from seven majority-Muslim nations, a policy that went through several iterations before it was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2018.

Former President Joe Biden, a Democrat who succeeded Trump, repealed the ban in 2021, calling it “a stain on our national conscience.”

The new ban could affect tens of thousands of Afghans who have been cleared for resettlement in the U.S. as refugees or on Special Immigrant Visas because they are at risk of Taliban retribution for working for the U.S. during a 20-year war in their home country.

Trump issued an executive order on January 20 requiring intensified security vetting of any foreigners seeking admission to the U.S. to detect national security threats. That order directed several cabinet members to submit by March 12 a list of countries from which travel should be partly or fully suspended because their “vetting and screening information is so deficient.” Afghanistan will be included in the recommended list of countries for a complete travel ban, said the three sources and one other who also asked not to be identified. The three sources said Pakistan also would be recommended for inclusion.

The departments of State, Justice and Homeland Security and the Office of the Director for National Intelligence, whose leaders are overseeing the initiative, did not respond immediately to requests for comment. One source pointed out that Afghans cleared for resettlement in the U.S. as refugees or on the special visas first undergo intense screening that makes them “more highly vetted than any population” in the world. The State Department office that oversees their resettlement is seeking an exemption for Special Immigrant Visa holders from the travel ban “but it’s not assumed likely to be granted,” the source said.

That office, the Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts, has been told to develop a plan by April for its closure, Reuters reported last month. The Taliban, who seized Kabul as the last U.S. troops pulled out in August 2021 after two decades of war, are confronting an insurgency by Islamic State’s regional branch. Pakistan also is grappling with violent Islamist militants.

Trump’s directive is part of an immigration crackdown that he launched at the start of his second term. He previewed his plan in an October 2023 speech, pledging to restrict people from the Gaza Strip, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Yemen and “anywhere else that threatens our security.”

Shawn VanDiver, the head of #AfghanEvac, a coalition of groups that coordinates evacuation and resettlement of Afghans with the U.S. government, urged those holding valid U.S. visas to travel as soon as possible if they can. “While no official announcement has been made, multiple sources within the U.S. government suggest a new travel restriction could be implemented within the next week,” he said in a statement. This “may significantly impact Afghan visa holders who have been awaiting relocation” to the U.S., he said.

There are some 200,000 Afghans who have been approved for U.S. resettlement or have pending U.S. refugee and Special Immigrant Visa applications. They have been stranded in Afghanistan and nearly 90 other countries -- including about 20,000 in Pakistan -- since January 20, when Trump ordered a 90-day freeze on refugee admissions and foreign aid that funds their flights.