The Trump administration on Friday imposed immigration restrictions on six additional countries, citing security concerns.

Immigrant visas were barred for Nigeria, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, and Eritrea, while diversity visas, a random process that awards green cards to countries with low immigration to the US, were suspended for Sudan and Tanzania.

Nonimmigrant visas were not affected, and previously issued visas will remain valid.

Trump was expected to sign a presidential proclamation Friday for restrictions to go into effect Feb. 22. Officials said they estimate nearly 12,400 visa applicants could be impacted by the travel restrictions.

A Department of Homeland Security official said the six countries failed to meet minimal security and information-sharing standards set by the Trump administration.

The restrictions are "the result of these countries' unwillingness or inability to adhere to certain baseline identity management, information-sharing, and national security and public safety criteria that were established by the department in 2017 at the president's request," the official said on a call with reporters.

It's the latest move by President Trump to reduce immigration — a top campaign promise — as he pushes forward on reelection efforts.

The announcement also comes days after the three-year anniversary of Trump's original controversial travel ban restricting travel from seven Muslim-majority countries, also known as the Muslim ban. It had been a cornerstone of Trump's election campaign, during which he proposed a "total and complete" ban on Muslims entering the US.

A DHS official said the new travel restrictions won't apply to refugees trying to come to the US.



Still, the inclusion of Myanmar on the list was troubling for human rights observers who note thousands of Rohingya Muslims in the country have been forced to flee their homes after being targeted by the government's military. Since August 2017, thousands of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar have been the target of a deadly crackdown at the hands of the army. The United Nations said the government's attacks, including killings, gang rapes, and torture, were done with “genocidal intent.”

BuzzFeed News previously reported on the draft presidential proclamation, which said how after a review conducted by the administration of the “identity management” and security protocols for 200 countries, the Department of Homeland Security recommended Trump place travel restrictions on countries in addition to the seven already on the list — Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Syria, Venezuela, and Yemen.

“In addition to maintaining the current restrictions, the Secretary recommended restrictions on additional countries that failed to satisfy the baseline criteria, as informed by the outcomes of the new, enhanced methodology,” the draft proclamation stated.

Asked why the Trump administration didn't have the same security concerns for visitor visas from the same countries blocked from getting immigrant visas, a DHS official said they focused on immigrants who would be harder to deport from the US.

"Because we have higher confidence these six countries will be able to make improvements in their systems in a reasonable period of time we did not feel it appropriate to impose travel restrictions on all immigrant and non-immigrant visas," the official said. "If we don't see improvements in their practices that eliminate or reduce those vulnerabilities the president could decide to impose additional restrictions."