Taking effect on February 22, the Trump administration has expanded the travel ban, adding in six more countries to the list of seven.

The first travel ban came into effect back in September 2018, which affected citizens from the countries of Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen.

All of them are unable to obtain any diversity visas for the United States. In total, the ban had covered more than 135 million people. Along with the five are restrictions that cover specific government officials from Venezuela. 

The new countries that were added; Nigeria, Sudan, Tanzania, Eritrea, Myanmar, and Kyrgyzstan have all been added to the travel ban, restricting most of the population from getting a visa. The six countries’ citizens could still get nonimmigrant visas, such as temporary worker, or student visas. CNN states an estimated thirteen thousand people are said to be restricted from obtaining visas, with only the exception of Tanzania and Sudan allowing any from those countries to immigrate permanently.

According to the BBC, or British Broadcasting Corporation, Chad Wolf, the Secretary of Homeland Security, says, “These countries, for the most part, want to be helpful but for a variety of different reasons simply failed to meet those minimum requirements that we laid out.”

The restrictions put into place vary from country to country, with Syrians being unable to enter the country at all, Iranians can only get student visas, yet most likely will not be able to stay after their graduation, while Somalians could still get temporary visas. Any citizen from the thirteen countries are allowed to sign a waiver, which may grant them entry into the United States if deemed as an emergency, and medical care is needed.

The White House Press Secretary, Stephanie Grisham, according to Vox, says, “It is fundamental to national security, and the height of common sense, that if a foreign nation wishes to receive the benefits of immigration and travel to the United States, it must satisfy basic security conditions outlined by America’s law-enforcement and intelligence professionals.”

Yet many are unhappy with the travel ban, with some Democratic lawmakers denouncing the ban itself.

Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives, says, “President Trump and his administration’s continued disdain for our nation’s national security and our founding ideals of liberty and justice dishonor our proud immigrant heritage and the diversity that strengthens and enriches our communities.”