How Trump tried to build a lawsuit-proof travel ban
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 10 June 2025
⏱️ 23 minutes
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Summary
On Monday, President Donald Trump restricted the entry of travelers to the United States from more than a dozen countries, resurrecting and expanding sweeping restrictions from his first term that are expected to draw swift legal challenges.
The travel ban has been criticized by immigrant rights groups for targeting several African and Muslim-majority nations, and for appearing to capitalize on a moment of public grief: Earlier this month, a man seeking asylum in the United States threw an incendiary device at an event organized by a Jewish group in Boulder, Colorado. Trump cited the attack in his announcement of the ban.
Today on Post Reports, host Elahe Izadi speaks with immigration reporter David Nakamura about who will be most affected by this ban, how the Trump administration crafted it to hold up in court, and why the public response to this iteration has felt muted.
Today’s show was produced by Emma Talkoff, with help from Rennie Svirnovskiy and Tadeo Ruiz Sandoval. It was edited by Ariel Plotnick and mixed by Sam Bair. Thanks to Lucy Perkins and Christine Armario.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Within days of becoming president in 2017, Donald Trump banned travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S. |
| 0:11.0 | This travel ban stunned a lot of people. |
| 0:14.0 | It created mass chaos at airports. |
| 0:16.9 | People showed up in droves to protest. |
| 0:19.1 | Let them see their lawyers. |
| 0:21.3 | Let them see their lawyers. What! Let them see their lawyers! |
| 0:22.9 | This is what America looks like. |
| 0:26.9 | Don't be what America looks like. |
| 0:28.9 | The ban also sparked immediate legal challenges. |
| 0:33.1 | Eventually, the Supreme Court upheld a version that stayed in place until Trump left office. |
| 0:40.8 | Now, Trump is president again, and he's rolled out a new travel ban that went into effect Monday. |
| 0:48.5 | People from a dozen countries are now barred from entering the U.S. And this policy seems much more carefully crafted |
| 0:56.4 | to withstand legal challenges. |
| 0:59.1 | So will this ban be here to stay? |
| 1:04.1 | From the newsroom of the Washington Post, |
| 1:07.0 | this is Post reports. |
| 1:08.8 | I'm Elahe Izadi. |
| 1:10.8 | It's Tuesday, June 10th. Today, I talk with immigration reporter David Nakamura about how the Trump administration crafted this travel ban, who will be affected, and why the response has looked so different this time. |
| 1:36.2 | David, thanks for making time to join me today. |
| 1:37.5 | Hi, Eli, thanks for having me. |
| 1:42.5 | Okay, so David, before we go any further, let's just talk about the basics of this ban. |
| 1:46.0 | As I said, there's 12 countries. They are fully banned from entry into the U.S. It includes Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial |
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