Human Rights First Slams Sweeping and Racist Travel Ban That Separates Families and Endangers Lives
Washington, D.C. — Human Rights First strongly condemns yesterday’s Travel Ban proclamation vastly expanding on the discriminatory June travel and entry bans targeting nationals from dozens of countries. Framed dubiously as a national security measure, the Ban doubles down on deeply flawed and discredited policies that separate families, endanger refugees, and undermine fundamental principles of equality and due process. The expanded list of banned countries is composed overwhelmingly of African and Muslim-majority nations, underscoring the racism inherent in and a common thread through this administration’s policies throughout the past eleven months.
“This racist proclamation is a sweeping act of collective punishment,” said Uzra Zeya, President and CEO of Human Rights First. “It stigmatizes entire nationalities, relies on fear and generalizations, and doubles down on policies that have already caused enormous human suffering. Twenty-six of the 54 nations on the African continent are now banned from travel to the United States, which is a truly unconscionable moment in our history. Policies that target and exclude people because of where they are from betray our values and undermine American interests.”
The December Travel Ban, which will go into effect on January 1, 2026, adds seven countries to the fully banned list: Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Burma, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Laos, Libya, Mali, Niger, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen, and includes individuals with travel documents issued by the Palestinian Authority. The December ban adds 15 countries to the partially restricted list: Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Burundi, Cote d’Ivoire, Cuba, Dominica, Gabon, Gambia, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Togo, Tonga, Turkmenistan, Venezuela, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
Importantly, the December ban removes exceptions that were included in the June 2025 Ban for family members of U.S. citizens and other humanitarian exceptions. Most of the affected nations are African, and/or majority -Muslim or -Afro-descendant, and are also experiencing conflict, repression, or humanitarian crises. In other words, this policy will disproportionately harm Black and Brown populations fleeing persecution and violence.
The December ban also removes exceptions for Afghan Special Immigrant Visa entrants, close allies who worked alongside the U.S. military and U.S. government in Afghanistan, and the immediate relatives of U.S. citizens. These vulnerable individuals are now subject to the travel ban, endangering Afghans who risked their lives in the furtherance of our country’s twenty-year long mission in Afghanistan, and who continue to be hunted by the Taliban.
Human Rights First calls on Congress to conduct immediate oversight and urges supporters to contact their members of Congress to demand the overturn of this racist, inhumane, and destabilizing policy. Working in lockstep with diverse allies and partners – from veterans to faith actors to grassroots human rights defenders – Human Rights First will continue to challenge U.S. policies that undermine the rule of law, fairness, and the values that underpin U.S. national security.
