Trump imposes travel ban on 12 countries, heightened restrictions on 7

US President Donald Trump has revived his travel ban policy from his first term by imposing a travel ban on 12 countries and heightened restrictions on visitors from seven countries.

The countries in the travel ban list which will come into effect on Monday at 12.01 am are Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.

The seven countries which had their restrictions raised are Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.

“I must act to protect the national security and national interest of the United States and its people,” Trump said in his proclamation.

Of the 19 countries, ten are in Africa, Some of those such as Togo, Sierra Leone and Equatorial Guinea are not known for hosting armed groups that is a major threat to the West.

The list was drawn up from Trump’s executive order to the State Department, Homeland Security Department and Director of National Intelligence to compile a report on hostile attitudes towards the US and whether entry from those countries posed a national security risk.

During his first term in 2017, Trump imposed a travel ban on people from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen.

The ban back then was infamously known as the “Muslim ban”.