WASHINGTON, March 15, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - US President Donald Trump's 
administration is mulling a new travel ban that would affect citizens from 
dozens of countries to varying degrees, the New York Times reported Friday.

Citing anonymous officials, it said the draft list featured 43 countries, 
divided into three categories of travel restrictions.

The red category of countries whose citizens would be completely barred from 
entering the United States includes Afghanistan, Bhutan, Cuba, Iran, Libya, 
North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela and Yemen.

Another 10 countries in the orange category -- Belarus, Eritrea, Haiti, Laos, 
Myanmar, Pakistan, Russia, Sierra Leone, South Sudan and Turkmenistan -- 
would see their visas sharply restricted.

"In those cases, affluent business travelers might be allowed to enter, but 
not people traveling on immigrant or tourist visas," the New York Times said.

Citizens from countries on the orange list would also have to undergo in-
person interviews to receive a visa.

Another 22 countries on a yellow list would have 60 days to address US 
concerns or risk being moved up to one of the more stringent categories.

"The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the 
sensitive internal deliberations, cautioned that the list had been developed 
by the State Department several weeks ago, and that changes were likely by 
the time it reached the White House," the New York Times said.

As one of his first acts in office, Trump froze the United States' refugee 
admission program and almost all foreign aid.

Trump ordered the US government to identify countries whose nationals should 
be banned from entering on security grounds, a move akin to the so-called 
"Muslim ban" of his first term.

That ban -- which in 2017 targeted citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, 
Sudan, Syria and Yemen -- ignited international outrage and lead to domestic 
court rulings against it.

Iraq and Sudan were dropped from the list, but in 2018 the Supreme Court 
upheld a later version of the ban for the other nations -- as well as North 
Korea and Venezuela.