H.R. 9710, the “Third World Immigration Moratorium Act”: The Catchphrase “Countries of Identified Concern"
Behind the bureaucratic catchphrase “countries of identified concern” are real people, families, students, workers, and communities facing broad restrictions based on nationality.
Rep. Nancy Mace, the Republican representative from South Carolina, introduced H.R. 9710, titled the 'Third World Immigration Moratorium Act,' in the U.S. House on July 15, 2026.
Its official purpose is to prohibit entry into the United States by non-U.S. nationals from specified 'countries of identified concern.'
The bill names 39 countries and also covers people traveling on documents issued by the Palestinian Authority.
The list includes: Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Togo, Nigeria, Sierra Leone. Guinea is not on the official 39-country list, so is Ghana not on the list either. Other named countries include Afghanistan, Haiti, Iran, Cuba, Venezuela, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Yemen, Zimbabwe...
As of the latest official Congressional information, H.R. 9710 has only been introduced and referred to the House Judiciary Committee. It has not passed the House, has not passed the Senate, and has not become law.
The 39 countries:
Afghanistan, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burma (Myanmar), Burundi, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Cuba, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Gabon, Gambia, Haiti, Iran, Laos, Libya, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Republic of the Congo (Congo-Brazzaville), Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Togo, Tonga, Turkmenistan, Venezuela, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
As Western nations tighten immigration laws and the traditional routes of escape close, African leaders may soon face a reckoning at home. Economic hardship is mounting, opportunities are shrinking, and young people who once looked abroad for a future may increasingly direct their anger inward, at the leaders and systems they believe have failed them.
