Trump's New Travel Ban Is Now in Effect

President Trump's new ban on travel to the US by citizens from 12 mainly African and Middle Eastern countries took effect on Monday, the AP reports. The new proclamation, which Trump signed on Wednesday, also imposes new travel restrictions on people from seven additional countries who are outside the US and don't have a valid visa. The new ban does not revoke visas previously issued to people from countries on the list, which include Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen. The new visa restrictions apply to people from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela.

Unless an applicant meets narrow criteria for an exemption to the ban, his or her visa application will be rejected starting Monday. Many immigration experts say the new ban is designed to beat any court challenge by focusing on the visa application process and appears more carefully crafted than a hastily written executive order during Trump's first term that denied entry to citizens of mainly Muslim countries. Haitian-American Elvanise Louis-Juste, who was at the airport Sunday in Newark, New Jersey, awaiting a flight to her home state of Florida, said many Haitians wanting to come to the US are simply seeking to escape violence and unrest in their country.

(More Trump travel ban stories.)