Secretary of homeland security Kristi Noem said in a Fox News interview last week that the administration was preparing to expand its travel ban to more than 30 countries, though she did not specify which ones would be added to the list.
“I won’t be specific on the number, but it’s over 30, and the President is continuing to evaluate countries,” Noem told Fox News host Laura Ingraham in a November 4 interview.
“If they don’t have a stable government there, if they don’t have a country that can sustain itself and tell us who those individuals are and help us vet them, why should we allow people from that country to come here to the United States?” Noem said.
In June, Trump announced a full travel ban on the citizens of 12 countries, and a partial one on an additional seven, barring international students from 19 countries from entering the US.
Later that month, Reuters reported that the administration was weighing up banning citizens of an additional 36 countries from entering the US, according to an internal State Department cable.
The remarks follow the shooting of two National Guards in November by a suspected Afghan national, prompting Trump to declare he would “permanently pause migration from all third world countries”, without providing further details of the plans.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) did not respond to The PIE News’s request for more details about Noem’s proposals.
International education leaders have said more information about any expansion of the travel ban is needed to fully understand it’s impact, but the development will only create more chaos and uncertainty for international students hoping to come to the US.
“We can expect an even stronger chilling effect that extends far beyond students from the countries targeted – discouraging many others who are deciding whether to study in the United States,” Zuzana Cepla Wootson, deputy director of federal policy at the Presidents’ Alliance told The PIE.
Amid scant policy detail released by the administration, Cepla Wootson raised concerns about how the government would determine which countries to be included, citing glitches in federal systems that can lead to inflated overstay rates, mistakenly flagging students for visa non-compliance when this is not the case.
“What we do know from the June 4 travel ban is that the administration relied on selective and unreliable visa overstay data to identify the 19 countries currently impacted,” said Cepla Wootson.
“It would be – of course – very troubling if we saw similar practice used for the possible travel ban expansion, but first we need to learn more.”
According to NAFSA analysis, the existing travel ban is set to have serious economic consequences, putting nearly $1 billion in economic activity and more than 8,000 US jobs at risk. Stakeholders have warned any expansion of the ban would only deepen these harms.
The administration relied on selective and unreliable visa overstay data to identify the 19 countries currently impacted
Zuzana Cepla Wootson, Presidents’ Alliance
The stated expansion plans are the latest in Trump’s broad anti-immigration crackdown which, as of November 2025, has seen more than 8,000 student visas revoked since January 20.
Despite nationals from Afghanistan already under the ongoing travel ban, USCIS halted the processing of all visa requests relating to Afghan nationals in response to last month’s shooting, impacting those holding special immigration visas that had been excluded from the ban.
Other countries impacted by the existing ban are Burma, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen. Nationals of Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela are subject to partial restrictions.
This fall, new international enrolments fell by 17% across US campuses, with university leaders citing visa disruptions caused by the travel ban, the prolonged suspension of student visa interviews this summer, and enhanced social media vetting, among many other challenges, contributing to the drop.
Amid warnings that next year could see even further declines, sector leaders are doubling down on the value of international education – America’s seventh largest service export, according to the International Trade Administration.
What’s more, Zepla Wootson cited NAFSA data highlighting that international students contributed $42.9 billion to the US economy and supported more than 355,000 jobs last academic year.
She emphasised that institutions remained “fully committed” to national security while supporting their international communities, as the government has sought to frame its anti-immigration crusade under the guise of protecting US national security.
Zepla Wootson said international students’ economic impact made clear that expanding the travel ban would “undermine our global standing and weaken our economic competitiveness”, urging sector colleagues to ramp up mobilisation.
The news follows the PIE Live North America conference where delegates heard powerful calls that now is the time to step up litigation and advocacy against the administration’s hostile policies – vital to the sector’s survival and success.
