“This approach was designed to encourage cooperation with the subject countries in recognition of each country’s unique circumstances,” the president stated.

By JNS staff, Mike Wagenheim, Izzy Salant

Starting just after midnight on June 9, citizens of 12 countries are to be barred from entering the United States, and those of seven others are partly blocked, per a presidential proclamation on Wednesday.

“This approach was designed to encourage cooperation with the subject countries in recognition of each country’s unique circumstances,” U.S. President Donald Trump said. “The restrictions and limitations imposed by this proclamation are, in my judgment, necessary to prevent the entry or admission of foreign nationals about whom the United States government lacks sufficient information to assess the risks they pose to the United States.”

The fully restricted countries are Afghanistan, Burma, Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen, and the partially limited countries are Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela, per the proclamation.

Trump noted that some of the banned countries have very high overstay rates, including Afghanistan, whose nationals he said overstay business and tourist visas at a rate of 9.7% and other kinds of visas, including student ones, at a rate of 29.3%. Equatorial Guinea had the highest overstay rate—70.18%—for student and other visa holders, and 21.98% for business and tourist visas, per the proclamation and a fact sheet.

“It is the policy of the United States to protect its citizens from terrorist attacks and other national security or public-safety threats,” Trump stated. “Screening and vetting protocols and procedures associated with visa adjudications and other immigration processes play a critical role in implementing that policy.”

“The restrictions and limitations imposed by this proclamation are necessary to garner cooperation from foreign governments, enforce our immigration laws and advance other important foreign policy, national security and counterterrorism objectives,” he said.

Jewish leaders learned of the travel ban in advance during a meeting at the White House on Wednesday, Jewish Insider reported.

Nathan Diament, executive director of the Orthodox Union Advocacy Center, was present at the meeting, which he told JNS was off-the-record.

“They did share with us that there are actually going to be announcements rolling out this afternoon and in the coming days from the White House, the Justice Department and the Department of Education,” he told JNS after the meeting. “They’re the kinds of actions—some of them, at least, are the kinds of actions that we’ve been looking for.”

Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff, and top officials from the Justice and Education Departments and from the White House’s National Security Council and faith office were present, according to Diament.

“They all really focused in and discussed with us their intention to continue their aggressive efforts to fight the spread of antisemitism,” he told JNS. “These officials definitely wanted to convey a strong sense of urgency. The common theme was they recognize the crisis at hand, and they intend to fight this with an unprecedented response from as many parts of the federal government as they can.”

Josh Reinstein, president of the Israel Allies Foundation and director and president of the Knesset Christian Allies Caucus, was also at the meeting. He told JNS that a senior Justice Department official talked about both the recent murders outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington and the attack in Boulder, Colo., on Sunday.

Sebastian Gorka, deputy assistant to the president and director of counterterrorism at the National Security Council, and Adam Boehler, special adviser for hostage response, were also at the meeting, according to Reinstein.

“What was amazing is that all of them had a very unified message—that standing with Israel, standing with the Jewish community here and that fighting antisemitism is paramount to this administration,” he told JNS.