Laos will be significantly impacted by Trump’s travel ban
In happier times, Laos and US signed a comprehensive partnership agreement in 2016.
Effective June 9, Laos nationals will find it even harder to enter the United States unless they already hold a valid visa. New tourist, student and permanent visas become a no-no, although one or two temporary permits theoretically remain. Any green card holders and competing athletes also escape the tightened net.
Trump’s inclusion of Laos on his “restricted” list has caused raised eyebrows as the Department of Homeland Security’s statistics show that fewer than 1,400 US visas were issued to Laos nationals in most recent years. Moreover, the US has historically concluded a number of memoranda of understanding with the Laos government to improve education, to establish mobile clinics and to remove UXO (unexploded ordinance) left over from the American war in south east Asia which concluded in 1975.
However, Trump issued an executive order on January 20 2025 calling into question all foreign aid in a review by Elon Musk’s Department of Governmental Efficiency. All US cash support has since disappeared, apart from small funds awarded for the care of impoverished mothers of babies. American support for UXO has also ceased, even though 8 million devices (all dropped from US bombers) still cause multiple deaths in the Laos countryside.
Trump’s latest anti-visa decree does not accuse Laos citizens of terrorism, nor does it suggest the country’s government is “out of control” as claimed for other nations such as Haiti, Myanmar or several in Africa. The accusation is that around 35 percent of Laos nationals in the US have overstayed their welcome and that deporting the offenders has been a real headache.
There are over 200,000 US-Laotian citizens living in America, many domiciled there with green card status protection. Making it virtually impossible for their Asian relatives to visit will result in longterm separations and significant family distress. Thus Trump’s decree can be seen as a justifiable response to visa abuse or a racist policy penalizing foreigners for their ethnicity. His MAGA base will welcome both explanations.
The fact that communist Laos is heavily dependent on Chinese financial assistance for development, creating a debt-trap economy, may also have influenced Trump. Not to mention the recent international publicity about cyber crime gangs and murders-by-poisoning in Vientiane. As the American president concludes, “We don’t want them here”.
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