ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - US President Donald Trump has expanded his administration’s full travel restrictions to include nationals from more than three dozen countries, adding Syria to the list, according to a White House statement released on Tuesday. The move cited security failures and what it described as exploitable loopholes in vetting systems.
The US President on Tuesday signed a proclamation expanding and strengthening entry restrictions on nationals from countries with “demonstrated, persistent, and severe deficiencies in screening, vetting, and information-sharing,” the statement said, noting that the measure aims to protect the United States from “national security and public safety threats.”
The decision builds on an earlier proclamation that imposed full entry restrictions on nationals from 12 countries deemed high risk, including Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
The new order adds five countries - Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, South Sudan, and Syria - to the list of nations facing a full entry ban, and extends restrictions to individuals holding travel documents issued by the Palestinian Authority.
Regarding Syria, the statement said its inclusion was due to the country’s emergence from “a protracted period of civil unrest and internal strife,” and while it “is working to address its security challenges in close coordination with the United States, Syria still lacks an adequate central authority for issuing passports or civil documents and does not have appropriate screening and vetting measures.”
Syria’s addition comes despite a recent rapprochement between Damascus and Washington, following the Trump administration’s declared “fresh start” policy in bilateral relations after the ouster of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad in late 2024.
The decision also comes just days after two US soldiers and a civilian were killed in an ambush in Syria’s central Homs province on Saturday, while three other American troops and two members of Syria’s security forces were wounded, according to the Pentagon and Syrian state media.
President Trump accused the Islamic State (ISIS) of carrying out the attack “against the US and Syria,” vowing “very serious retaliation.” Of note, Syria became the 90th country to join the US-led Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS in late November.
The proclamation issued on Tuesday also imposes partial entry restrictions on 15 additional countries, including Nigeria, Senegal, and Tanzania, and narrows family-based visa exemptions that were previously available.