The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has denounced President Donald Trump’s latest expansion of the 2025 U.S. travel ban, saying the move unjustly targets families of U.S. citizens from several Muslim-majority and African countries and fully bars people traveling on Palestinian Authority documents from entering the United States, according to a CAIR press release issued on December 16, 2025. The decision, announced in Washington, D.C., adds seven more countries to the list facing a complete entry ban and tightens restrictions on Palestinian passport holders as part of the administration’s broader immigration and national security agenda. The White House says the changes aim to address vetting challenges and security risks, while CAIR and allied groups argue the measures will deepen family separation and discrimination against Muslim and African communities.
Travel Ban Expansion Targets New Countries and Palestinians
In its statement, CAIR said the administration has added Burkina Faso, Laos, Mali, Niger, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, and Syria to the entirely banned list and imposed full restrictions on individuals using Palestinian Authority–issued or endorsed travel documents. The new measures build on earlier actions in June 2025, when Trump expanded a renewed travel ban affecting 19 predominantly Muslim and African nations, including Afghanistan, Iran, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, and others facing total or partial entry bans, as CAIR regional offices previously noted. The latest expansion means many U.S. citizens and permanent residents with relatives in the newly banned countries or in Palestinian territories will no longer be able to bring spouses, children, or parents to the United States, Axios and other U.S. media have reported.
CAIR Calls Move ‘Dangerous’ and ‘Politically Motivated’
CAIR, described in its own materials as the largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States, sharply criticized the decision in its December 16 news release. The national office said the move is “a dangerous, xenophobic, politically motivated expansion of a racist policy that primarily targets Black, African, and Muslim communities, and separates families based on national origin, race, and religion,” arguing that “targeting entire nations does not make America safer; it only tears families apart and diminishes our standing as a nation of welcome”. The organization further called the restriction on Palestinian Authority documents “a particularly cruel and unprecedented act of geopolitical targeting that has no basis in national security”.
Legal and Civil Rights Concerns Raised Nationwide
CAIR regional chapters in California, New Jersey, Washington state, and Chicago have issued similar condemnations of the broader 2025 travel and immigration regime, calling the policies discriminatory and harmful to Muslim and African communities. CAIR-SFBA and CAIR-LA previously said Trump’s renewed and expanded bans “revive” and “repackage” versions of the original 2017 “Muslim ban” that survived limited Supreme Court review, warning that the new orders will again block refugees, students, and families under the “guise of national security”. CAIR-Washington and CAIR-Chicago have also noted that expanded vetting, suspensions of visa processing, and added ideological screening create “renewed fear and uncertainty” for refugees and immigrants from affected countries, while promising legal support and advocacy for those impacted.
“This administration is once again weaponizing the executive branch to target entire communities under the guise of national security,” CAIR-SFBA Executive Director Zahra Billoo said, adding that the policy “deliberately exploits the pain of people fleeing instability, war, and persecution”.
Government Justifies Ban on Security and Vetting Grounds
The White House and administration officials have defended the travel restrictions by citing problems with corruption, fraudulent or unreliable civil documents, incomplete criminal records, and weak birth-registration systems in several of the affected countries, saying such conditions “prevent accurate vetting” of travelers and immigrants. Regarding Palestinian Authority passport holders, an official fact sheet and media reports state that the two years of war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, combined with the presence of several U.S.-designated terrorist groups in the West Bank and Gaza, have “likely compromised vetting and screening abilities.” That weak or nonexistent control by the Palestinian Authority over some areas makes the current vetting insufficient. The policy is scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2026, and follows earlier restrictions on Afghan nationals announced this year after a Washington, D.C., shooting incident, U.S. outlets have reported.
Human Impact and Next Steps in Congress
CAIR warns that the expanded ban will separate families, restrict American citizens from reuniting with close relatives, and block many Palestinians and nationals of newly listed countries from travel for study, work, or medical care in the United States. In its statement, the organization urged Congress to pass the NO BAN Act, federal legislation intended to limit broad nationality-based immigration bans and strengthen protections against religious and racial discrimination in immigration policy. Civil rights advocates say legal challenges and legislative efforts are likely to intensify in the coming months as the new rules take effect and affected families, lawyers, and community groups document their impact nationwide.