A growing number of African countries are once again at the center of a sweeping Trump administration immigration directive. The U.S. government has warned 36 countries, several of them African, that unless they take urgent steps to improve security screening and cooperate on deportations, their citizens could soon be barred from entering the United States.
According to a classified diplomatic cable obtained by The Associated Press, the State Department has instructed U.S. embassies and consulates to press host governments for commitments to enhance vetting standards and address the status of their nationals who have overstayed or remain unlawfully in the U.S. Governments have been given until Wednesday to signal their willingness to comply, and just 60 days to show measurable progress or face travel restrictions.
The African countries flagged span nearly every region of the continent. They include Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Malawi, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
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Many of these nations, such as Egypt and Djibouti, maintain strategic military or diplomatic partnerships with the U.S. Others like Nigeria, Liberia, and Ethiopia have long-standing bilateral ties. Still, they now face the prospect of being added to the list of countries under President Trump’s controversial travel ban, despite their cooperation in the past.
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The cable frames this latest effort as part of the administration’s broader crackdown on visa overstays and the perceived security risks tied to weak documentation. Countries that fail to meet U.S. benchmarks risk being lumped in with others currently barred from obtaining new visas under Trump’s existing proclamation.
President Trump’s earlier restrictions impacted citizens from 12 nations, including Somalia, Sudan, Libya, Iran, Yemen, and Myanmar. While previously issued visas were not revoked, the executive order halted the issuance of new ones. In addition, seven countries, Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela, were hit with heightened visa scrutiny.
Critics of the policy, including refugee advocates and rights groups, argue that it unfairly targets countries with limited resources while sowing diplomatic discord. Still, U.S. officials have stood firm.
State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce confirmed the administration’s objectives but declined to discuss the memo in detail. “We’re looking at providing a period of time, (where if countries) don’t get to that point where we can trust them and they’ve got to change the system, update it, do whatever they need to do to convince us that we can trust the process and the information they have,” she said.
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It remains unclear how rigidly the 60-day deadline will be enforced or whether countries demonstrating progress but falling short of benchmarks will still be penalized.
Among the 36 countries listed are not just African countries but also Caribbean and Asian nations like Antigua and Barbuda, Bhutan, Cambodia, Dominica, Kyrgyzstan, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu. Middle Eastern nation Syria is included as well—Syria notably absent from the initial travel ban rollout, though already facing scrutiny.
South Sudan, meanwhile, is already under a separate visa restriction framework, with most South Sudanese in the U.S. having had their visas revoked under a previous directive.
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