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Senegal and Côte d’Ivoire can have fans excluded from participating world cup Next year after Donald Trump imposed a travel ban on both countries.
Supporters from African countries will face “partial bans and entry limitations”, according to new rules announced by white House On Wednesday.
They join Haiti and Iran, also World Cup participants, in facing the most severe sanctions.
The Trump administration blamed the ban on high overstay rates for tourists on B1 or B2 visitor visas. The figures show an overstay rate of 4 percent for Senegal and 13 percent for Côte d’Ivoire.
It also pointed to “widespread corruption, fraud or unreliable civil documents and criminal records”.
The proclamation made it clear that athletes and World Cup athletes would be exempt from the rules.
The exclusion will apply to “any athlete or athletic team member, including coaches, individuals performing essential support roles, and immediate relatives, who is traveling to the World Cup, Olympics, or other major sporting event, as determined by the Secretary of State”, According to the statement.
The latest update added several other countries to the list, including a complete entry ban on Palestinians holding Palestinian Authority passports, as well as people from Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, South Sudan and Syria.
Laos and Sierra Leone were also added to the full sanctions list after previously being subject to partial sanctions.
An additional 15 countries have been added to the list of countries facing partial sanctions, including: Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Dominica, Gabon, Gambia, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, Tanzania, Tonga, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The government said the rules would remain in place until there were “credible improvements” to information sharing and cooperation with US immigration authorities.
The changes are part of an increasingly controversial immigration crackdown by the Trump administration, which has included ICE raids and a freeze on all pending applications for green cards and citizenship from certain countries.
The 2026 World Cup will be jointly hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico and begins on June 11.
The updated sanctions list comes after the arrest of an Afghan man accused of shooting two National Guard soldiers near the White House. He has pleaded not guilty to murder and assault charges.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem had previously indicated that sweeping sanctions would be imposed to protect against “foreign terrorists” and other security threats. Mr Trump introduced controversial policies during his first term in 2017. This law was subject to legal challenge, but was later upheld in the US Supreme Court.