43 countries may be subject to Trump administration travel ban—including Russia—to protect Americans from national security threats

The Trump administration has drafted a list of 43 countries in a memo that may be subject to the ban or heavy travel restrictions using recommendations from diplomatic officials as well as others, according to the New York Times. The ban lays out three categories: countries that are automatically subject to a total travel ban to the US, countries that will have a sharp decrease in travel visas granted, and a large group of countries that will need to address policy concerns in order for no travel ban measures to be taken against them.

There are 11 "red" countries, or those that are completely banned from travel to the United States, which include: Afghanistan, Bhutan, Cuba, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela, and Yemen.

The list of 10 in the "orange" are those countries where travel visas will decrease sharply including Belarus, Eritrea, Haiti, Laos, Myanmar, Pakistan, Russia, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, and Turkmenistan.

Those in the orange who do get visas will also be subject to an in-person interview requirement in order to get their visa. Because of this, more business travelers may be allowed to go to the US, but your average traveler for a vacation may not be able to get a visa so easily.

Finally, there is a "yellow" list, where 22 countries have been asked to clear up what the Trump administration has determined to be deficiencies in their travel system. In an executive order that Trump signed when he took office on January 20, it stated that countries had to be identified for a ban where "vetting and screening information is so deficient as to warrant a partial or full suspension on the admission of nationals from those countries.”

The order in January said that the ban was designed to protect Americans “from aliens who intend to commit terrorist attacks, threaten our national security, espouse hateful ideology or otherwise exploit the immigration laws for malevolent purposes.”