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Caribbean Matters: Trump pushes travel bans while region plans to open borders [1]

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Date: 2025-07-19

Caribbean Matters is a weekly series from Daily Kos. Hope you’ll join us here every Saturday. If you are unfamiliar with the region, check out Caribbean Matters: Getting to know the countries of the Caribbean.

While much of the recent reporting around the racist Trump administration’s anti-Caribbean actions has focused on ICE and deportation, not as much attention has been given to President Donald Trump’s travel bans and their impact. So here are some recent reports:

CitizenX co-founder and CEO Alex Recouso posted:

Recently, a potential travel ban affecting several Caribbean countries has raised significant concerns among travelers, investors, and citizens of these nations. ... If you're planning to travel to the Caribbean, have business interests in the region, or are considering citizenship-by-investment programs, these developments deserve your attention. The implications extend beyond mere travel inconvenience—they could affect economic stability, investment value, and the global mobility that many seek through Caribbean citizenship programs.

And Oumou Fofana reported for Essence:

The Trump administration is considering a dramatic expansion of its travel ban policy, which would impose entry restrictions on citizens from 36 additional countries, primarily in Africa and the Caribbean, according to a State Department memo reviewed by The Washington Post. The memo, signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, sets a 60-day deadline for these nations to meet new security and documentation requirements. Countries that do not comply risk facing full or partial entry bans to the United States. This move follows a presidential proclamation signed earlier this month that blocked entry or imposed partial restrictions from 19 nations, including Afghanistan, Iran, Libya, Haiti, Cuba and Venezuela, according to Reuters. That order went into effect on June 9. Now, the administration’s internal memo reveals a larger list of countries under review. Caribbean countries on the list include Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Saint Kitts and Nevis and Saint Lucia. The list also includes countries in Central Asia and the Pacific, such as Kyrgyzstan, Bhutan, Cambodia, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

Meanwhile, the Washington Office on Latin America posted about the specifics of Trump’s proclamation: What does the proclamation say about Haitians, Cubans and Venezuelans in particular? Haitians In the proclamation, the President justified the inclusion of Haiti by claiming that “hundreds of thousands of illegal Haitian aliens flooded into the United States during the Biden Administration,” which, according to the text, created threats to national security. As a result, the entry of Haitian nationals into the United States is fully suspended for both immigrants and nonimmigrants. Cubans Cuba is subject to partial travel restrictions under the proclamation. The President cited several reasons for this decision, including Cuba’s designation as a state sponsor of terrorism, its alleged failure to adequately cooperate with U.S. law enforcement, and its historical refusal to accept back its nationals who are subject to removal. Consequently, the entry of Cuban nationals as immigrants, as well as nonimmigrants traveling on B-1 (business), B-2 (tourist), B-1/B-2, F (student), M (technical studies), and J (exchange program) visas, is suspended. In addition, consular officers are instructed to limit the validity period of all other nonimmigrant visas issued to Cuban citizens. Venezuelans Venezuela’s inclusion in the proclamation is based on concerns over the country’s lack of a functioning or cooperative central authority for issuing civil documents and passports, as well as insufficient screening and vetting procedures. The text also notes that Venezuela has refused to accept the return of its nationals, despite more than 5,900 Venezuelans having been deported between January and June 2025. As a result, just as in the case of Cubans, Venezuelan nationals are barred from entering the United States as immigrants and as nonimmigrants on B-1, B-2, B-1/B-2, F, M, and J visas. Similar to Cuba, consular officers must also reduce the validity period of all other nonimmigrant visas granted to Venezuelan nationals. Interestingly, while the Trump administration touts and promotes restrictions, Caribbean nations have been doing the exact opposite, furthering their plans for a future that will allow a freer flow of people from nation to nation.

People who live in the continental United States are used to a free flow between states—no visas or passports are required to travel from one state to another. Not so for Caribbean nations, who have been developing plans to tear down barriers between and among their membership for a number of years, which are now beginning to come to fruition. Unsurprisingly, I didn’t see any reporting on this in U.S. media.

But here are two reports from Barbados:

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The news of the launch attracted quite a bit of attention in the Caribbean press:

For example, News Room Guyana posted this video report:

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But there have been security concerns raised by this new moment, which were addressed by Barbados Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Kerrie Symmonds:

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Carib21 Network weighed in from Jamaica with a similar take and concerns:

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Unsurprisingly, while Trump closes doors, the Caribbean moves to open them.

Please share your thoughts and responses in the comments section below, and join me for the weekly Caribbean News Roundup.

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