Trump Travel Ban 2.0? What to Expect
Skift Take
Key Points
- Trump plans to reinstate a travel ban with enhanced screening for visa applicants.
- The original ban targeted several Muslim-majority nations and was expanded in 2020.
- Muslim tourism to the U.S. declined significantly during and after the bans.
Summary
Donald Trump has suggested reinstating a travel ban with enhanced visa screening if he returns to office, reminiscent of his 2017 ban on several Muslim-majority countries. The previous bans, which were legally challenged and eventually upheld by the Supreme Court, included countries such as Yemen, Syria, and Iran, and were expanded in 2020. The bans led to a decline in Muslim tourism to the U.S., which has only partially recovered since President Biden rescinded the bans in 2021.
One of Donald Trump’s first acts as president in 2017 was to institute a ban on travel to the U.S. from several nations that had Muslim majorities. During his campaign, he vowed to restore the ban if he won again.
"We will seal our border and bring back the travel ban," Trump said at an event in Washington in September.
On Monday, his first day in office for a second term, Trump issued an executive order that calls for "enhanced screening and vetting" for any travelers seeking visas to visit the U.S.
In addition, within 60 days of the order, a report is to be submitted to the President identifying countries throughout the world "for which vetting and screening information is so deficient as to warrant a partial or full suspension on the admission of nationals from those countries."
Which countries were affected last time?
Starting with an executive order in January 2017, the Trump Administration attempted to temporarily ban entry into the U.S. by citizens from several Muslim-majority countries.
The administration’s effort to do this was initially blocked in court. A second attempt was also blocked. But in June 2018, the final version of the ban was ultimately upheld by the Supreme Court.
The initial ban targeted five Muslim-majority countries: Yemen, Syria, Iran, Libya, and Somalia. It also put restrictions on nationals from Venezuela and North Korea.
Then, in 2020, the ban was expanded to include six additional countries – Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Nigeria, Sudan, and Tanzania.
What were the restrictions?
The U.S. suspended the issuance of both immigrant and non-immigrant visas, including those for tourism and short-term business, for several of the countries.
It allowed exceptions for students and those who have established "significant contacts" in the U.S. Non-immigrant visas were not affected for Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar and Nigeria.
Most North Koreans were barred from entering the U.S., while the ban on Venezuelan nationals mostly applied to government officials.
The CEOs of Expedia Inc., Airbnb, TripAdvisor, Lyft, and Uber condemned the ban and it set off years of legal battles.
After President Trump’s term finished, President Joe Biden rescinded the ban on his first day of presidency in 2021.
What was Muslim tourism to the U.S. like before the ban, and after it was dropped?
In 2016, before the travel bans, CrescentRating‘s 2017 Global Muslim Travel Index, which gave the U.S. an overall index score of 48.6 (on a scale of 0 to 100) for Muslim tourism.
Index scores are derived from a variety of criteria, including how travel brands cater to Muslim travelers, safety, visa requirements, access to prayer spaces and accommodations options.
The U.S. scored 26 in the 2024 index for the general safety of Muslim travelers, a big decrease, compared to 62 in the 2017 report.
The overall index did not fully recover in the years since the Biden Administration lifted the ban in 2021: By 2024, the overall score had recovered only to 43, putting the U.S. in 53rd spot globally.
However, in terms of arrivals to the U.S., the countries included in the ban were not in the top 12 bringing tourism to the U.S.
The top 12 countries with the highest number of visitors to the U.S. are India, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Brazil, Australia, South Korea, Japan and China, according to the International Trade Administration.
What's Next?
International visitors from all countries to the U.S. "continued to increase dramatically in 2023," with 66.5 million arrivals, according to the International Trade Administration.
This represents an increase of 31% from 2022. It predicted that total international visitors would continue to increase significantly over the next two years, from both the top 12 countries and from other countries.
Photo Credit: Exterior of the White House in Washington, D.C. Adobe Stock / Orhan Çam
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