Trump Travel Ban: Why Egypt Was Not Included on the 2025 List
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Sulaiman
- . June 6, 2025
- . Update: June 6, 2025 6:02 pm
President Trump announced a broad travel ban on the citizens of 12 countries, effective on Monday, June 9, 2025. The bans include full bans of Afghanistan, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen, and surprisingly, did not include Egypt.
The Administration asserted an array of security threats and visa-stay-over rates as the justification for the ban. President Trump referred to a specific violent incident involving an Egyptian national, who overstayed his visa, as evidence of the national security threat. This example was backed up by Senator Markwayne Mullin, and, was referenced as an example of gaps in the immigration vetting systems.
Despite the examples, officials note that Egypt was excluded from the list of countries, because Egypt has become better at complying with U.S. authorities, meaning that at this time, Egypt was not sufficiently dangerous for full restrictions. The ban does however put restrictions on countries like Cuba and Venezuela; however, the restrictions are in narrow visa categories and do not include an outright ban. The ban does not include U.S. green card holders, as well as people traveling to major international events, such as the 2026 World Cup and 2028 Olympics.
Critics have claimed the ban is discriminatory, and many of the same concerns expressed regarding the travel ban were again raised here. Expect litigation to challenge the travel ban, although a ruling from the Supreme Court in 2018 may protect this action from being changed.
