The Trump administration is considering a significant expansion of its travel restrictions, potentially barring entry to citizens from 36 more countries unless specific security and cooperation benchmarks are met within the next 60 days, according to an internal State Department cable reviewed by Reuters.
The confidential cable, signed by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and circulated over the weekend, outlines a range of national security and immigration concerns linked to the proposed countries. These include poor cooperation in deportations, lack of reliable identity documentation, concerns over passport security, visa overstays, and links to terrorism or anti-American activity.
The cable warns that countries failing to take “corrective action” could face either full or partial suspension of entry to the U.S., following a 60-day review period. It emphasizes that not all concerns apply equally to all the countries under review.
If implemented, the expansion would mark a sweeping extension of a travel ban policy first introduced during Trump’s first term and renewed at the beginning of his second. Earlier this month, the administration barred citizens from 12 nations—among them Iran, Libya, and Yemen—citing national security threats.
The list of 36 countries now under review includes a wide geographic spread, encompassing African, Asian, and Caribbean nations such as Angola, Cambodia, Egypt, Ghana, Kyrgyzstan, Syria, and Zimbabwe. According to the cable, reasons for concern range from governments’ failure to accept deportees to insufficient vetting procedures for passport issuance.
The Washington Post was first to report the contents of the cable.
This new move aligns with the Trump administration’s broader immigration crackdown in 2025, which has included the deportation of suspected gang members to Central America and new restrictions on student visa renewals. Hundreds of Venezuelans have been deported to El Salvador in recent months as part of these efforts.
The policy echoes Trump’s controversial 2017 travel ban, which initially targeted several Muslim-majority nations and was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2018 after undergoing multiple revisions.
In addition to the countries facing a possible new ban, citizens from seven other nations—including Venezuela, Cuba, and Laos—are already facing partial travel restrictions.
Critics have previously accused the administration of targeting developing nations and using national security as a cover for discriminatory immigration policies. However, the administration maintains the measures are necessary to protect Americans from terrorism and to enforce immigration laws.
The State Department has not publicly commented on the cable or the potential expansion.
