By April Ryan
“Another shameful moment for our nation’s foreign policy” is what ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee Greg Meeks calls President Trump’s latest travel ban on 12 countries. President Trump reinstated his first-time travel ban based on national security concerns. Beginning June 9, 2025, at 12:01, citizens of the designated countries are banned from entering the United States.
The entry bans citizens from the following countries:
Afghanistan
Myanmar
Chad
Republic of the Congo
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
Haiti
Iran
Libya
Somalia
Sudan
Yemen
The 12 countries on the travel ban list comprise seven African nations and one Caribbean nation. This ban will impact commerce and possibly diplomatic relations with these countries. Congressman Meeks says, “Trump’s travel ban is discriminatory from the ground up, and ultimately self-defeating—it even betrays our Afghan allies who supported U.S. troops over our twenty-year war and were waiting for their visas to enter the United States.” President Trump also signed a ban on international students attending Harvard University, a school he has been battling with over issues such as antisemitism on campus and discrimination against white, Asian, male, and straight individuals. The Trump administration is also concerned with China’s foreign influence and perceived woke ideology. Chioma Chookwoo of American Oversight says, “A quarter of Harvard’s student population is international.”
The latest travel ban has far-reaching implications for higher education in the United States. North Carolina Democratic Congresswoman Alma Adams told Black Press USA, “Nationwide, we have more than 1 million international students who contribute $50 billion to the U.S. economy each year.” In Adam’s home district, she says the University of North Carolina at Charlotte” has 2,000 international students from nearly 100 countries.” The congresswoman, who also is a member of the House Committee on Education, says, “These students are coming to our country to better their education and consistently give more than they receive.” “Between this latest travel ban, the freeze on student visa processing, and other chilling actions to deter international students, the Trump administration is creating a self-inflicted brain drain that further damages our economy and undermines U.S. influence and soft power,” offered Meeks.
