Iran tops Trump’s list of 41 countries in bold immigration crackdown plan

The proposed travel restrictions target 41 nations, with Iran leading a group of ten countries—including Afghanistan, Syria, Cuba, and North Korea—facing a total visa blackout. For Iranian Christians caught in this net, the stakes are life-or-death: Iran’s laws punish conversion from Islam with execution, leaving deportees stranded between U.S. exclusion and brutal persecution back home.

The plan sorts the 41 countries into three tiers. The first, featuring the ten most restricted nations, would see all visa issuance halted. A second group—Eritrea, Haiti, Laos, Myanmar, and South Sudan—faces partial bans, blocking tourist, student, and other immigrant visas with few exceptions. The third tier, encompassing 26 countries like Belarus, Pakistan, and Turkmenistan, would encounter visa curbs unless their governments address unspecified “deficiencies” within 60 days. This framework echoes Trump’s first-term travel ban on Muslim-majority states, a policy that survived fierce legal battles to win Supreme Court approval in 2018.

The administration is also targeting campus radicals. Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil, notorious for spearheading aggressive pro-Hamas rallies, now faces deportation alongside Leqaa Kordia, another agitator who overstayed a canceled visa. Ranjani Srinivasan, an Indian doctoral student at Columbia, opted to leave voluntarily after authorities flagged her for promoting Hamas propaganda. On Friday, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem fiercely defended the deportations, declaring, “It’s a privilege to live and study in America. If you push violence and terrorism, that privilege is gone—you don’t belong here.”

Trump’s latest proposal signals a return to his hardline immigration stance, amplifying restrictions amid heightened security concerns. With Iran at the forefront, the plan risks igniting diplomatic firestorms while reshaping who gets to call America home—or even visit.