Donald Trump has signed a new executive order that bans people from 12 specific countries from entering the United States. In total, the ban will affect people from 19 different countries. According to the official announcement, citizens from Afghanistan, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, and Burma are now banned from entering the US.
However, some people online quickly pointed out a mistake in the order. One user on X (formerly Twitter) noted that “Burma” is not the country’s current name. The country was officially renamed “Myanmar” in 1989, a year after the military government violently crushed a pro-democracy protest. So using the old name “Burma” in a formal document like this has raised eyebrows and sparked some criticism.
In addition to the 12 countries with full bans, the order also puts entry restrictions on people from seven other countries: Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela. This means people from these places may not be fully banned, but will face tight limitations when trying to enter the United States.
Sources inside the White House say this move is a continuation of Trump’s controversial travel bans from his first term, which many critics had called a “Muslim ban” because of the number of Muslim-majority countries affected. The updated version was reportedly rushed through after a recent violent incident in Boulder, Colorado. In that case, a dozen Jewish marchers were injured in a firebomb attack.
The man accused of carrying out the attack is Mohamed Sabry Soliman, an immigrant from Egypt. He is facing serious charges, including attempted murder and federal hate crimes. Interestingly, Egypt was not included on Trump’s updated travel ban list, even though the suspect is from there. This has led to more debate about how countries were chosen for the list and whether the order is truly about national security or influenced by other political reasons.
