The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today expressed strong opposition to the Trump administration’s decision to expand its discriminatory 2025 Muslim and African travel ban by adding seven more countries to the fully-banned list, imposing full restrictions on people traveling with Palestinian Authority-issued documents, and limiting the ability of U.S. citizens to reunite with their immediate family members from targeted countries.
SEE: Official White House Proclamation Expanding the Travel Ban
The administration announced the expansion, naming Burkina Faso, Laos, Mali, Niger, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, and Syria to the list of fully banned countries and fully restricts entry for individuals using Palestinian Authority-issued/endorsed travel documents. It also imposed partial restrictions on the entry of nationals from Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Côte d’Ivoire, Dominica, Gabon, The Gambia, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Tonga, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. The administration announced that it would no longer exempt the family members of U.S. citizens in targeted countries from the ban.
This latest action follows the administration’s unjust move earlier this month to ban immigration and visa processing for Afghan nationals.
In a statement, CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said:
“Banning American citizens from welcoming their spouses and other family members to America if they happen to be citizens of a banned nation is an unprecedented and unacceptable step. So is expanding the Muslim and Africa travel bans, a xenophobic and bigoted policy that primarily targets Black, African, and Muslim communities, and separates families based on national origin, race, and religion.
“The restriction placed upon travelers with Palestinian-Authority-issued documents is a particularly cruel and unprecedented punishment, especially given how many Palestinian-Americans have family members in the West Bank and how thoroughly vetted those Palestinians are. Enabling a genocide against Palestinians and then banning Palestinians from visiting their relatives in America adds insult to injury.
“Our nation already has extreme vetting procedures for all immigrants and banning entire nations does not make America safer; it only tears families apart and diminishes our standing as a nation of welcome.”
Washington, D.C., basedCAIR urged all allies to join us in demanding that Congress pass the NO BAN Act immediately to permanently end this discriminatory practice.”
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CONTACT: CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, e-Mitchell@cair.com; CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, rmccaw@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, iallison@cair.com