Trump draws widespread condemnation for expanding travel ban, fully barring Palestinians

Backlash spread online after US President Donald Trump banned citizens of five African and Arab countries - including Syrians and Palestinian nationals - prompting sharp criticism from politicians and advocates.

The expansion, announced on Tuesday, adds 20 countries to Trump’s existing travel ban, bringing the total number of restricted nations to 39.

The order includes a full ban on Syrian nationals and explicitly targets individuals holding Palestinian Authority travel documents, alongside new restrictions affecting multiple African and Arab countries. 

The White House said the measures were aimed at safeguarding US national security and are set to take effect on 1 January.

The administration framed the move as a national security measure tied to vetting and screening, while critics say it dramatically broadens Trump’s earlier travel ban and disproportionately impacts people from Muslim-majority regions.

That sentiment has extended beyond Congress and into the White House itself. In a post on X, Vice President JD Vance argued that restricting immigration was key to eliminating antisemitism and any “ethnic hatred”, and to support efforts “to lower immigration and promote assimilation”.

California Senator Scott Wiener responded to Vance’s post on X saying: “Actually some of the most significant things you could do to stop antisemitism is to call it out at your public events (which you failed to do), call out groypers & Tucker Carlson (which you failed to do) & condemn Nazi-aligned parties in Germany (instead you tried to elect one).”

Many other lawmakers also argued there was little justification for expanding the ban and that racism was the primary force driving the policy.

“Trump’s travel ban is racism disguised as security, xenophobia disguised as policy,” Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey posted on X. “I stand with the immigrant community and denounce Trump’s cruel and indiscriminate immigration policies.”

The racism is not subtle.

Donald Trump and Stephen Miller want to make the United States a white nationalist country.

We won't stand for it. https://t.co/e0YgnPUbT2

— Rep. Ilhan Omar (@Ilhan) December 17, 2025

Representative Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian serving in Congress, criticised Trump’s decision to fully ban Palestinian nationals, pointing to the timing of the move during Israel’s genocide in Gaza, which the US continues to fund.

“This administration's racist cruelty knows no limits, expanding their travel ban to include even more African and Muslim-majority countries, even Palestinians fleeing a genocide,” she wrote in a post on X. “Trump and Stephen Miller won't be satisfied until our country has the demographics of a Klan rally.” 

Ruwa Romman, a Palestinian American who serves as a Georgia state representative, echoed those concerns, warning the policy would further separate families displaced by US-backed violence.

“This administration will bomb and displace people, then refuse to let them be reunited with loved ones,” Romman wrote on X. “Make no mistake, their increasingly cruel and racist policies are a desperate attempt to distract from their disastrous economic policies. Voters aren’t going to fall for it.”
  
Many other social media users highlighted how many of the countries that were added were primarily Muslim-majority countries already facing war, displacement, and mass violence.

Former Human Rights Watch director Kenneth Roth wrote: “As Trump keeps adding countries to his travel ban - now ~20% of the world - he seems in his racist and Islamophobic way to pretend that Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia don't exist (except for white South Africans, Israelis, and rich Gulf Arabs).”

Sudan, Congo, and Palestinians are all experiencing genocides either directly or indirectly funded by the US & Trump is restricting simple entry from those places. If you still refuse to see comparisons to WWII you are willfully blind https://t.co/igd9I9bD8E

— Dr. Mia Brett (@QueenMab87) December 16, 2025

Others zeroed in on the language used to justify the expansion, arguing it reveals a broader effort to restrict not just undocumented migration, but legal immigration itself.

Immigration policy analyst Aaron Reichlin-Melnick pointed to Department of Homeland Security language that labels even children and spouses of US citizens entering on legal visas as “foreign invaders”, saying it undercuts claims the policy is about legality or vetting.

“It has never been about legal versus illegal,” he wrote in an X post. “They hate legal immigration. They want to stop it.”

That concern was echoed by economist David J Bier, who said the rhetoric also shows contempt for government employees tasked with screening migrants.

“The admin stands with its employees, but only when they're anti-immigrant!” his X post reads. 

Many also highlighted that the consequences of the expanded ban are not abstract but immediate and deadly. 

One social media user pointed to the case of Palestinian peace activist Awdah al-Hathaleen, who was denied entry to the US at San Francisco International Airport months earlier and sent back, before later being killed by an Israeli settler who has faced no accountability.

“Trump has extended the travel ban to Palestinians. The harm isn’t theoretical,” the post on X reads. “They know exactly that these are the consequences. They don’t care.”