Congresswoman introduces bill to permanently ban Gambians, others from travelling to US

Republican congresswoman Nancy Mace of South Carolina has introduced a legislation that would permanently bar nationals from The Gambia and 39 countries from entering the United States.

The bill, named the Third World Immigration Moratorium Act, was introduced on July 15, 2026, and covers nations across Africa, the Caribbean and the Middle East.

Congresswoman Mace argued that the measure is necessary on national security grounds, contending that immigrants from the affected countries have broadly failed to integrate into American society.

According to Fox News, countries named in the act include The Gambia, Afghanistan, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burma, Burundi, Chad, Cote d’Ivoire, Cuba, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Gabon, Haiti, Iran, Laos, Libya, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Republic of the Congo, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Togo, Tonga, Turkmenistan, Venezuela, Yemen, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The bill would additionally bar entry to anyone travelling on Palestinian Authority-issued documents.

“For too long, Washington has looked the other way while bad actors exploited every gap in our system and American families paid the price. Those days are over,” she said in a statement obtained by Fox News Digital.

“If you import the third world, you will become the third world. This bill makes crystal clear: entry into the United States is a privilege, not a right. We make absolutely no apologies for defending it.”

Under the terms of the bill, the Secretary of Homeland Security would retain the authority to issue individual waivers where admitting a specific person is determined to serve the country’s ‘critical interest’.

The proposal follows the Trump administration’s decision in June 2025 to reinstate a travel ban on 12 countries, a move prompted in part by the arrest of an Egyptian national charged in connection with a deadly firebombing attack in Boulder, Colorado, targeting demonstrators calling for the release of hostages in Gaza.

Mace’s legislation mirrors the full list of countries currently subject to full or partial restrictions under the Trump administration, effectively seeking to make those measures permanent through an act of Congress rather than an executive order. The bill is facing significant obstacles on Capitol Hill. Opposition is expected from Democrats and several Republicans who support legal immigration pathways from several of the countries included on the list, making its passage through the House uncertain.