The United States is preparing to significantly expand the number of countries covered by its travel ban, a move that could place more than 30 nations under new entry restrictions, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Thursday.

Speaking on Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle,” Noem declined to give an exact figure but confirmed that the administration of President Donald Trump is considering a major expansion. “I won’t be specific on the number, but it’s over 30, and the president is continuing to evaluate countries,” she said.

Trump’s most recent proclamation, signed in June, already bars citizens of 12 countries from entering the United States and imposes restrictions on travelers from seven others. The bans apply broadly to both immigrants and non-immigrants, including tourists, students and business visitors, with the administration arguing that the measures are necessary to guard against foreign terrorism and other security threats.

Noem did not identify which countries could be added to the list. She emphasized that the administration is focused on governments that cannot reliably verify their own citizens. “If they don’t have a stable government there, if they don’t have a country that can sustain itself and tell us who those individuals are and help us vet them, why should we allow people from that country to come here to the United States?” she said.

The push to widen the list marks another escalation of the administration’s migration policies following the fatal shooting of two National Guard members in Washington, D.C., last week. Investigators say the suspected gunman, an Afghan national, entered the United States in 2021 through a resettlement program that Trump officials argue lacked sufficient vetting.

In the aftermath of the shooting, the president vowed to “permanently pause” migration from what he called “Third World Countries,” though he did not specify which nations he meant or define the term.

Before that, Homeland Security officials said Trump had ordered a sweeping review of asylum cases approved during the Biden administration, along with Green Cards issued to citizens of 19 countries. Since returning to office in January, Trump has placed aggressive immigration enforcement at the center of his agenda, dispatching federal agents to major cities and limiting entry for asylum seekers at the U.S.-Mexico border.