Foreign nationals from more than two dozen countries could be barred from entering the United States under an expanded travel ban being considered by President Trump.
The Trump administration is targeting at least 30 countries to include on an updated travel ban list – but could add more in the future, a source confirmed to The Post.
“We will be announcing the list soon,” a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said in a statement.
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem teased the “full travel ban” on Monday night, indicating on X that she proposed expanding the number of countries on the restricted list during a meeting with Trump.
Noem recommended including “every damn country that’s been flooding our nation with killers, leeches, and entitlement junkies” on the list.
“Our forefathers built this nation on blood, sweat, and the unyielding love of freedom — not for foreign invaders to slaughter our heroes, suck dry our hard-earned tax dollars, or snatch the benefits owed to AMERICANS,” the DHS chief continued. “WE DON’T WANT THEM. NOT ONE.”
The recommendation is part of the Trump administration’s massive crackdown on immigration following last week’s Thanksgiving eve attack on two West Virginia National Guard members in Washington, DC.
The administration had previously announced that it would halt all asylum decisions and re-examine more than 720,000 green card holders from 19 “countries of concern” after Rahmanullah Lakanwal, a 29-year-old Afghan national, allegedly killed Sarah Beckstrom, 20, and critically injured Andrew Wolfe, 24, near the White House.
The State Department has also paused visa issuance for individuals traveling on Afghan passports in response to the horrific attack.
Lakanwal, a former member of a CIA-backed Afghan military unit that fought the Taliban, entered the US legally in 2021 under the Biden administration’s Operation Allies Welcome program, which evacuated and resettled refugees after the botched US withdrawal from the Middle Eastern country.
The alleged gunman was granted asylum in April, which made him eligible for a green card after 12 months.
US Citizenship and Immigration Services has reportedly halted naturalization ceremonies for individuals from some of the 19 countries on the current travel ban list, which was unveiled by Trump over the summer.
At least some foreign nationals from Venezuela, Iran and Afghanistan had their US citizenship swearing-in ceremonies, initially scheduled to take place later this week, canceled in the wake of the National Guard shooting, according to ABC News.
“The Trump Administration is making every effort to ensure individuals becoming citizens are the best of the best. Citizenship is a privilege, not a right,” a DHS spokesperson told The Post. “We will take no chances when the future of our nation is at stake.
“The Trump Administration is reviewing all immigration benefits granted by the Biden administration to aliens from Countries of Concern.”
In June, Trump signed the proclamation to “fully restrict and limit the entry of nationals” from 12 countries: Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen.
The proclamation partially restricted foreign nationals from seven additional countries – Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela – from entering the US.
Trump issued the 19-nation travel ban order shortly after an antisemitic firebombing attack in Colorado, which was allegedly carried out by an Egyptian national in the US on an expired tourist visa.
At a White House Cabinet meeting Tuesday, the president took particular issue with immigrants from a nation already on the travel ban list: Somalia.
“Somalians ripped off [Minnesota] for billions of dollars,” Trump said, referring to the fraud scandals that have plagued the North Star State in recent years.
“They contribute nothing,” he said of Somali immigrants, adding, “I don’t want them in our country.”
Noem revealed during the meeting that at the president’s direction she looked into visa fraud in Minnesota and discovered, “50% of them are fraudulent.”
“We’re going to remove them and get our money back,” the DHS chief pledged, claiming that fraudulent visa holders signed up for government programs and made off with “hundreds of billions of dollars” in taxpayer-funded benefits.
As part of the Somali-specific crackdown, the Trump administration is reportedly launching an “intensive immigration enforcement operation” in Minneapolis and St. Paul, which is home to a substantial number of migrants from the African nation, according to the New York Times.
The Trump administration had previously announced that it had terminated temporary protected status (deportation protection and work permits) for Somali migrants.
