Trump travel ban: How US President may change American travel - after promising to 'seal border' and 'bring back ban'

With Donald Trump now becoming the official President of the United States of America fears are mounting that he may go through with promises he made during his election campaign. One of his first acts as President in 2017 was to institute a ban on travel to the US 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 his first day in office for a second term, Trump issued an executive order that calls for "enhanced screening and vetting" for any travellers 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."

The initial travel 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.

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 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.

The National Iranian-Americans Council (NIAC) said Trump's order on "Protecting the United States from Foreign Terrorists and other National Security and Public Safety Threats" would separate U.S. families from loved ones and lower enrollment at U.S. universities. The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) will decide in coming days whether to mount a legal challenge to the order, its national executive director Abed Ayoub told Reuters. Mr Ayoub told Reuters: "This order will allow for the removal of individuals in the U.S. based on what they say or what they've expressed, and what positions they hold”.