The White House posted on 16 December 2025 a fact sheet titled "President Donald J. Trump Further Restricts and Limits the Entry of Foreign Nationals to Protect the Security of the United States."
The United States added 15 countries to the list impacted by partial or full travel restrictions. There are now 34 countries subject to some kind of restriction; 26 are in Africa. The stated purpose of this policy is "to protect the Nation from national security and public safety threats."
The proclamation continues full restrictions and entry limitations of nationals from 12 "high-risk" countries. This includes the following African countries: Chad, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Libya, Somalia, and Sudan.
It adds full restrictions and entry limitations on 5 additional countries, including Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, and South Sudan.
It imposes full restrictions on 2 countries that were previously subject to partial restrictions, including Sierra Leone.
It continues partial restrictions on nationals of 4 original "high risk" countries, including Burundi and Togo.
It adds partial restrictions and entry limitations on 15 new countries. They include Angola, Benin, Cote d'Ivoire, Gabon, The Gambia, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
The Associated Press published on 16 December 2025 an article titled "Trump Expands Travel Ban and Restrictions to Include an Additional 20 Countries" by Rebecca Santana.
This article includes a map that clearly demonstrates the impact of this policy on African countries.
The New York Times published on 16 December 2025 an article titled "Trump Expands Travel Ban and Restrictions to 20 More Countries" by Tyler Pager and Hamed Aleaziz.
The article reports that homeland security secretary Kristi Noem recommended to President Trump that he institute "a full travel ban on every damn country that's been flooding our nation with killers, leeches, and entitlement junkies."
Comment: Most of the African countries on the list are there because of "high visa-overstay rates and refusal to repatriate removable nationals" from the United States. Visa overstay means that an individual received a visa at a US embassy overseas to be in the United States for a limited period of time, for example 3 months to visit relatives or one year to study. They stayed longer than the allotted period, which is a violation of US law. But it has little or nothing to do with US national security.
The fact sheet contains some African countries that do have unusually high visa overstay rates. But others are not especially high. Mauritania's B-1/B-2 visa overstay rate is 9 percent. Nigeria has a B-1/B-2 overstay rate of 6 percent and F, M, and J visa overstay rate of 12 percent. Senegal's B-1/B-2 overstay rate is 4 percent and F, M, and J overstay rate of 13 percent.
The US policy seems more focused on cracking down on immigration and keeping certain foreigners out of the country than US national security. As for Kristi Noem's comment on countries in the travel ban, has America fallen to this low level?
