Democrats plead with Trump to reconsider ‘reckless’ proposed travel ban targeting 43 countries

A group of House Democrats are pleading with President Donald Trump to reconsider his “disgraceful and discriminatory” proposed travel ban that could impact 43 countries, according to a draft that circulated over the weekend.

The deadline for Trump’s order directing cabinet members to draft a list of countries that should face travel restrictions because their "vetting and screening information is so deficient" is Thursday. A reported draft of the list showed citizens from 43 countries could soon be restricted from entering the U.S.A.

A White House official previously told The Independent no decision had been made.

“As the daughter of first-generation Iranian immigrants, I saw firsthand how Trump’s cruel and xenophobic 2017 travel ban hurt families like mine,” Rep. Yassamin Ansari, who penned the letter, said in a statement shared with The Independent. “Just a few years ago, my grandmother — an American citizen — died without ever getting the chance to see her sister again. The newly proposed Trump travel ban is disgraceful and discriminatory. It does nothing to make us safer, but instead hurts our economy and our national security while emboldening extremists.”

Trump has billed the restrictions as a step toward protecting the U.S. from foreign terrorists and other national security threats. But Ansari, Illinois Rep. Brad Schneider, and more than 30 of their Democratic colleagues argued in a letter to Trump that his proposed travel ban is “reckless” and could actually do more harm than good.

“There is absolutely no national security imperative to wholesale ban travelers from large swaths of the globe,” the Wednesday letter shared with The Independent reads. “Nationality is simply not correlated with threats to our security.”

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The travel ban could damage the U.S. economy, erode the trust of allied nations, and undermine the country’s moral standing on a global stage, the Democrats argued.

Economically, a blanket ban could negatively impact the job market, tourism industry, and global trade. “Our nation’s prosperity depends on open, secure, and mutually beneficial engagement with the world, not isolation, fear, and discrimination towards outsiders,” the Democrats wrote.

Broad restrictions also threaten to undermine relationships with allies, meaning the U.S. could risk losing these nations’ intelligence-sharing and counterterrorism efforts, which are critical to U.S. defense. “Our retreat on the global stage — from Ukraine to USAID — is already prompting a turn away from the U.S. and our values and instead towards our adversaries, like Russia and China,” they warned.

The U.S. has long held the reputation as a “compassionate leader,” welcoming refugees, students, and individuals seeking a better life for themselves and their families. But these restrictions would “inflict unnecessary hardship” on these individuals who pose “no threat,” the letter added.

“We urge you to reconsider this extreme approach as it poses significant economic, moral, and security challenges that outweigh its intended benefits,” the Congress members continued.

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The Democrats urged his administration to work with Congress to pursue “commonsense” reforms, like pathways to citizenship for “hardworking, longtime” residents, streamlining the visa process for families and employers, “compassionate treatment” of immigrants, asylum seekers and refugees, as well as addressing “legitimate national security concerns.”

The letter comes as reports of the proposed ban over the weekend sparked fears about how international travelers, workers and students should prepare for what could be an imminent ban.

Leaders at Ivy League schools have already warned international students and community members ahead of spring break to prepare for uncertainty when they plan on returning to the U.S.

A pair of law professors at Yale similarly warned international students about a looming travel ban, in an email obtained by The Guardian. The professors advised that the students could be questioned about their support for Palestine — noting the risk that their answers could get their visas revoked.

“We cannot advise you on how to answer such questions,” the professors wrote, “but you should be prepared to respond to them.” The email was sent Sunday, two days after the Trump administration moved to revoke the green card of Columbia graduate student Mahmoud Khalil and detained him in ICE custody.

Similarly at Brown University, Russell Carey, the school’s executive vice president for planning and policy, sent out an email. “Potential changes in travel restrictions and travel bans, visa procedures and processing, re-entry requirements and other travel-related delays may affect travelers’ ability to return to the U.S. as planned,” the Brown Daily Herald reported.

Olivia Troye, the former Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Advisor to former Vice President Mike Pence, also condemned the move, writing on X: “As someone who worked on this at DHS as a national security official—I have a lot to say about the travel ban. I warned that it would be significantly worse in a second Trump term. 43 countries?! What justification are they going to use this time?”

Rep. Brad Schneider, who also led the letter to Trump, said the proposed bans “represent a troubling step backwards.” He continued in a statement: “We diminish our country and our children’s future by surrendering to isolation and irrational suspicion.”

A draft of the list, obtained by the New York Times, separated countries into three sections — red, orange, and yellow — to denote the level of restriction.

The “red” list includes 11 countries whose citizens would be entirely forbidden from entering the US: Afghanistan, Bhutan, Cuba, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela and Yemen. The “orange list” includes 10 countries whose citizens will be required to have specific visas: Belarus, Eritrea, Haiti, Laos, Myanmar, Pakistan, Russia, Sierra Leone, South Sudan and Turkmenistan. They will have to sit for in-person interviews to obtain a visa, the outlet reported.

The “yellow” list contains 22 countries, mostly African nations, that the Trump administration is giving 60 days to address concerns over alleged vetting “deficiencies.” If these countries don’t comply, they risk being placed on the red or orange lists, the Times reported.