World Relief Responds to New Travel Ban on Individuals from 19 Countries

Contact: wr@pinkston.co

(Baltimore, MD) June 5, 2025 – Late yesterday, President Trump signed a proclamation halting almost all travel for individuals from twelve specific countries and significantly restricting the issuing of visas for individuals from seven additional countries. World Relief is grieved by this broad action restricting legal immigration, which will separate families, hinder international missions and development and tarnish our country’s reputation for justice and fairness.

“This is the latest assault on legal immigration processes,” lamented Myal Greene, president & CEO of World Relief. “It’s always been difficult for most individuals in many of these countries to obtain visas, but this blunt order restricts the entry even of those who meet strict qualifications and undergo thorough vetting. We urge the administration to reconsider these restrictions and to pursue policies that scrutinize individuals in the interest of ensuring security without banning entire nationalities from lawfully visiting or emigrating to the United States.”

With limited exceptions, the order bars both immigrant and temporary, non-immigrant visas from being granted to individuals from Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. The order partially restricts the issuing of visas from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela. The order exempts Afghan allies of the U.S. military granted Special Immigrant Visas, for which we are grateful. The ban also does not apply to those already granted refugee or asylum status, Lawful Permanent Residents and spouses, unmarried minor children and parents of U.S. citizens — but does apply to adult or married children of U.S. citizens, siblings of U.S. citizens and spouses and minor children of Lawful Permanent Residents. 

“My heart is heavy for the families who have patiently waited many years or even decades under the backlogged family reunification processes of our laws, only to now be told that their loved ones abroad are barred from joining them in the United States, and for those who will be prevented even from obtaining a visitor visa to visit their family in America” said Matthew Soerens, Vice President of Advocacy and Policy at World Relief. “I’m also concerned with the impact on Christian mission agencies and non-profit organizations  — including World Relief, which operates in and has many staff who are nationals of Burundi, Chad, Haiti and Sudan — whose staff will now be ineligible for temporary visas to visit the United States.”

The new ban is similar to nationality-specific bans enacted by the Trump administration during President Trump’s first term, which World Relief also opposed.

World Relief encourages those whose family members abroad may be affected by today’s decision to consult with an accredited immigration legal service provider, including many offices of World Relief.