World Reaction to the Latest U.S. Travel Ban
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You're listening to State of the World from NPR. We bring you the day's most vital international stories up close where they're happening. It's Thursday, June 5th. I'm Greg Dixon. President Trump has announced sweeping new travel restrictions from a number of countries overseas. Citizens from 12 countries will be barred from entering the U.S. These include Afghanistan, Iran, Haiti, Myanmar, Yemen, and seven African nations.

Tighter entry rules will be coming for seven other countries. Trump framed the move as a security decision, citing the recent attack on a demonstration in Boulder, Colorado. The suspect in that attack is from Egypt, a country not part of this announcement.

Trump said the list of countries can change at any time. But we will not allow people to enter our country who wish to do us harm. And nothing will stop us from keeping America safe. On today's episode, we're going to hear from reporters in Africa, Asia, and Latin America about how the effects of this ban are likely to be felt in targeted countries. We start with Kate Bartlett, who is in South Africa.

Africa accounts for the lion's share of countries affected by Trump's new travel ban. Seven countries on the continent were hit with a total ban – Chad, Congo-Brazzaville, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Libya, Somalia and Sudan – while partial restrictions were placed on three others – Togo, Sierra Leone and Burundi.

The list is varied and includes democracies, authoritarian states and war-torn nations. But Suren Pillay, director of the Center for African Studies at the University of Cape Town, said the list did raise questions. Why this list? Why this particular group of countries? And of course, one imagines that the list could expand. Pillay did see one common thread that unites the banned countries. So there is clearly a racial character there.

to these exclusions, to the calculation of who should be removed or discouraged from coming to the United States. The reasons President Trump gave for the ban ranged from Eritrea refusing to accept back its nationals to Somalia acting as a, quote, terrorist safe haven and conflict-stricken Sudan's lack of ability to issue travel documents.

Mostly, though, the reason given was that many of the countries, including Chad and Togo, had high visa overstay rates. But statistics showed that out of all the countries banned, the African countries accounted for the lowest number of visas. Citizens of Sudan, for example, were granted just 833 non-immigrant visas in 2023. And Somalia had a 77% refusal rate for citizens applying for U.S. entry last year.

Reaction in Africa to the bans was strong. The African Union called on the U.S. to, quote, use a balanced, evidence-based approach to deciding on who could enter the country. And Chad's president, Mohamed Deby, responded by slapping a ban on U.S. citizens wishing to travel to Chad. For NPR News, I'm Kate Bartlett in Johannesburg.

Refugees International didn't mince words. They said the travel ban against Haiti was, quote, racist. Yael Shakur, the director for the Americas, says the White House singled out the world's first black republic by saying Haitian immigrants who came in the past few years, quote, harm American communities.

You know, it was the only country where like the nationals of the country were actually discussed as opposed to just the security concerns around vetting. Shaker says this is also just the latest punch against Haiti. Since Trump came into office, his administration has taken away humanitarian paroles from recent Haitian immigrants. And in August, he plans to end temporary protected status for Haitians, some of whom have been in the country for decades.

You know, like it's more and more and more, like heaping more and more on this population, which is one of the most vulnerable, if not most in need of legal pathways and protection to the United States today.

and doesn't have options. Ever since President Jovenel Moise was assassinated in 2021, Haiti has spiraled toward anarchy. Gangs now control a majority of the capital city. Nearly half the population is going hungry. We have a saying that home is home, but there's no home to go to. That's Cecile Axelien, who studies Haiti at the University of Maryland. You have a country that is run by gangs.

Where are people supposed to go? Axelian says Haitians have been looking for hope for years now, and all they have found is a world that turns its back. This travel ban, for example, comes just as the neighboring Dominican Republic has enacted a mass deportation program of Haitians. So this new policy, says Axelian, feels especially cruel. It's inhumane in whichever way you look at it, because it's not looking at the context of

of where Haiti is right now at this very moment. Ada Peralta in Pierre News, Mexico City. This travel ban is just the latest move by the Trump administration to target Afghans in some way. One of Trump's first moves hours after his inauguration was to suspend the U.S. refugee admissions program, which halted the process for an estimated 200,000 Afghans.

They were mostly the families of men and women who worked with the US or related institutions, and Afghans who fought alongside American forces. The US pulled all troops and personnel out of Afghanistan in the summer of 2021, after nearly two decades in the country, as the Taliban overran the capital, Kabul. Many Afghans waiting to be resettled in the US are in Pakistan. But Pakistan has been forcing them back to their home country, even if it's a risk to their lives.

The Trump administration has also cut most of America's promised aid to Afghanistan, including money that went to the World Food Programme. That fed millions of hungry men, women and children. The administration argued the Taliban were siphoning off the aid. Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security announced temporary protected status for Afghanistan would end this summer.

More than 9,000 Afghans with TPS may soon be forced back to their country, where most girls aren't allowed to attend school after grade 6, or work in most professions, or even enter a park. And now Trump has issued this new executive order banning Afghans from entering the US, saying that Afghans are more likely to overstay their visas. There's an exception. For Afghans meant to enter on a visa category for those who fought alongside American forces,

The problem? The Trump administration is also dismantling the officers that handled their resettlement.

Advocates for America's Afghan allies say the Trump administration's blows feel relentless. Like Sean Van Driver of AfghaniVac. He says when you look at the sum of what the Trump administration is doing. It is really just this administration, the cruelty is the point, it seems. Dia Hadid, NPR News, Mumbai. And we also heard from Eder Peralta, who covers Latin America, and Kate Bartlett, who covers Africa.

NPR contacted the White House for a response about the comments on race. White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson labeled the accusations of racism, quote, lazy, unfounded and inaccurate. And she said the travel restrictions keep Americans safe. And that's the state of the world from NPR. Thanks for listening. Decades ago, Brazilian women made a discovery. They could have an abortion without a doctor, thanks to a tiny pill.

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