On Monday, the Trump administration implemented a new travel ban, barring citizens from 12 countries from entering the US and imposing partial restrictions on seven more. The White House said the proclamation behind the ban is a response to the June 1 attack at a Boulder, Colorado event related to Israeli hostages.

The World Socialist Web Site unequivocally condemns this latest attack on the democratic rights of millions, which revives and expands the notorious “Muslim ban” of Trump’s first term. The new travel ban is part of the Trump’s demonization of immigrants and is an integral part of the ongoing raids, mass detentions and deportations of migrant workers within the US.

The pretext for the new ban was the firebombing of a rally in Boulder, Colorado, by 45-year-old Egyptian Mohamed Soliman, where demonstrators had gathered to call for the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza.

Soliman had overstayed his US tourist visa, and his work permit had expired. In the days following the June 1 attack, the White House moved quickly to exploit the event, and tied it directly to the need for new restrictions on immigration.

In a video message released on June 4, Trump declared:

The recent terror attack in Boulder, Colorado, has highlighted the severe risks posed to our nation by the entry of foreign nationals who have not undergone adequate vetting, as well as those who visit temporarily and overstay their visas. We do not want them here.

Trump’s proclamation, issued the same day, claimed the ban is necessary to “protect the United States from foreign terrorists and other national security and public safety threats.”

The implementation of the new travel ban is already having profound and devastating effects on families, refugees, and immigrant communities in the United States and abroad. For many immigrants and refugees, the most immediate and painful consequence is the forced separation from loved ones.

In Detroit, for example, members of the Yemeni community are now unable to reunite with family members still living in Yemen. Abdo Al Wajeeh, a Yemeni immigrant who has lived in Michigan since 2000, described the anguish of being cut off from his wife and children: “I miss them,” he said, explaining that he now fears returning to Yemen because he may not be able to re-enter the US.

“It’s sad,” Al Wajeeh added, voicing a sentiment echoed by countless others facing indefinite separation from spouses, children and parents.

A similar story comes from Burmese immigrants, some of whom waited over 15 years to bring siblings to the US to escape civil war, only to see those hopes dashed overnight by the new restrictions. “It’s incredibly frustrating since we were so close to securing their safety from that situation,” one family member said, describing the ban as if a “rug was pulled out from under us in an instant.”

Rights groups have warned that the ban will have dire humanitarian consequences, especially for people fleeing war, persecution, or natural disasters. The International Rescue Committee (IRC) highlighted that the ban targets many countries on its 2025 Emergency Watchlist for humanitarian emergencies.

The IRC stated:

This action will have far-reaching impacts, both in the US and abroad: preventing American families from reunifying with their loved ones, including the spouses and children of permanent residents, and could leave persecuted religious minorities and other refugees in danger.

The ban provides very limited exceptions, such as for Afghan Special Immigrant Visa holders and certain persecuted minorities from Iran, but most refugees and asylum seekers are excluded, even in urgent humanitarian cases. This means that people who have already endured years of waiting and vetting may now be left in limbo or forced to remain in dangerous conditions.

Human Rights First called the ban “a return to divisive and racist policies to target entire populations,” warning that it “will harm refugees, asylum seekers, and other vulnerable populations, including many who have been waiting to reunite with loved ones in our country.”

Amnesty International condemned the ban as “discriminatory, racist, and downright cruel.” Secretary General Agnès Callamard said:

By targeting people based on their race, religion, or nationality, from countries with predominantly Black, Brown and Muslim-majority populations, this blanket ban constitutes racial discrimination under international human rights law… With the right to seek asylum already non-existent at US borders, it will further inflict terrible suffering on people who are fleeing war-torn regions, massive human rights violations and other dangerous situations and seeking safety in the United States.

Trump’s June 4 proclamation, titled “Restricting the Entry of Foreign Nationals to Protect the United States from Foreign Terrorists and Other National Security and Public Safety Threats,” bars entry for both immigrants and non-immigrants from the following 12 countries: Afghanistan, Burma (Myanmar), Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.

The order also imposes restrictions on citizens of seven additional countries, suspending or limiting certain visa categories from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.

Trump’s proclamation further states:

The entry into the United States of nationals of the above-listed countries, as immigrants or nonimmigrants, is hereby suspended, subject to exceptions and waivers as provided herein. This action is based on the determination that the conditions in these countries—ranging from the presence of terrorist organizations, inadequate passport and identity management, high visa overstay rates, and a lack of cooperation in accepting the return of their nationals—pose a threat to the national security and public safety of the United States.

The ban took effect at 12:01 am EDT on June 9. Visas issued before that date are not revoked, but all new applications are denied unless they meet narrow exemption criteria.

Notably, Egypt—the country of origin of the alleged Boulder attacker Soliman—is not among the nations subject to the ban. This glaring contradiction exposes the political and arbitrary character of the measure. When questioned about the exclusion of Egypt, Trump justified it by citing the “close relationship” between Washington and Cairo:

Egypt has been a country that we engage with closely. They have stability. The nations we’re concerned about do not.

This statement makes clear that the travel ban is not about threats to national security but about advancing the geopolitical interests of US imperialism and targeting countries that are either vulnerable or have been designated as enemies.

In his June 4 video and subsequent remarks, Trump repeatedly tied the new ban to the Boulder attack, declaring:

We will not permit individuals who intend to harm us to enter our country, and nothing will deter us from ensuring America’s safety. The list is open to changes based on whether significant improvements are made, and likewise, new nations can be included as threats develop globally.

The White House and Department of Homeland Security have attempted to justify the ban by citing “inadequate vetting,” “high visa overstay rates,” and “lack of cooperation on deportations.”

However, these claims are recycled from the Trump administration’s previous efforts to scapegoat immigrants and whip up xenophobia within the US public as part of its fascist agenda.

The June 2025 proclamation is a revival and expansion of the infamous “Muslim ban” that Trump first implemented in January 2017, just days after taking office. That executive order, which initially targeted seven Muslim-majority countries, sparked mass protests at airports across the US and was repeatedly challenged in the courts before being upheld in a revised form by the Supreme Court in 2018.

While the Biden administration rescinded the original ban in 2021, it covered up the reasons for it with its own version of securing the borders to the US. Trump’s new order, however, not only restores but extends the policy, targeting a broader swath of nations—many of them in Africa and the Middle East, and many with majority-Muslim populations.

The World Socialist Web Site has consistently opposed these bans as unconstitutional, racist, and reactionary. On January 28, 2017, we wrote:

The Trump administration’s travel ban is a frontal assault on the most basic democratic rights. It is an attempt to divide the working class along national and religious lines and to build up the machinery of a police state under the pretext of fighting terrorism. The real aim is to create a climate of fear and to justify the escalation of war abroad and repression at home.