Trump’s travel ban sparks confusion and fear among affected families

Anger and condemnation broke retired arsenic families, attorneys and migrant advocates absorbed the blast from the latest bombshell delivered by the Trump migration — a question prohibition that stops oregon restricts radical from 19 mostly African, Asian and Caribbean countries from entering the U.S.

While the Trump medication said the question prohibition is meant to support Americans safe, critics lobbed accusations of discrimination, cruelty, racism, inhumanity and much successful response. Meanwhile, the quality besides elicited disorder implicit what volition hap erstwhile the prohibition goes into effect connected Monday.

"This question prohibition is simply a racist, bigoted and xenophobic and profoundly un-American onslaught connected quality rights — it’s similar persecution. We person fled dictatorship, violence, hunger,” Adelys Ferro, enforcement manager of the Venezuelan American Caucus, told NBC News from Miami, a metropolis with a ample colonisation of immigrants from respective of the countries connected Trump’s list.

“This medication intelligibly has thing against immigrants, and it has thing against america successful particular,” said José Antonio Colina, a erstwhile Venezuelan service lieutenant who fled to Miami successful 2003 and heads the exile enactment Veppex. “We are double-persecuted. We are persecuted by the tyranny of Nicolás Maduro and we are persecuted by the medication of Donald Trump.”

A 38-year-old Haitian green-card holder successful Miami who was excessively fearful to let her sanction to beryllium utilized said she and galore others successful the assemblage consciousness “confused and scared” implicit the question prohibition connected Haiti. She said astir of her household lives there, including her sister and father, who is sick. “They travel each the clip to sojourn and present I don’t cognize if they volition beryllium capable to,” she said, adding she heard determination were exceptions to the prohibition but wasn't sure.

There are immoderate exceptions, including for radical with lawful imperishable residency, spouses and children of U.S. citizens, those who are adopted and others.

“But if you are a spouse of a imperishable resident, hide astir it,” said Doug Rand, erstwhile manager of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services during the Biden administration. It volition besides interaction different relatives, specified arsenic big children and siblings of lawful imperishable residents, radical who won the diverseness lottery oregon were sponsored by a U.S. leader and are from the listed countries, “people who person been waiting for years and done it the close way,” helium said.

In Havana, a queue of radical extracurricular the American Embassy learned the quality of the question prohibition and suspensions arsenic they waited for their visa interviews.

“I had been waiting 9 years for this moment,” said 1 young pistillate successful line, who declined to beryllium identified by sanction for fearfulness it mightiness impact her visa chances. She and others said the suspension means not being capable to sojourn household oregon flight dire circumstances successful Cuba.

“If they don’t assistance visas, Cubans volition starve, fixed the situation, they volition starve,” said Ismael Gainza, a retired Cuban. “I spot that measurement arsenic bad, I spot it arsenic atrocious due to the fact that the concern is pugnacious and we person to survive.”

Trump’s proclamation issued Wednesday nighttime bans radical from 12 countries from traveling to the U.S. The countries are: Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.

In 7 much countries, question to the U.S. was suspended but not banned. They are Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.

Shahzeen Karim, managing lawyer astatine Hafey & Karim instrumentality firm, said that though she's successful the migration instrumentality space, she holds “Republican views” connected the topic, agreeing there's a request for a stricter migration argumentation and much thorough screening.

“I cognize the White House presented immoderate explanations arsenic to wherefore each of those countries, but I can’t assistance but consciousness precise targeted, being a Muslim migration attorney,” Karim said. “The countries are bulk Muslim unfortunately.”

Challenging the prohibition could beryllium 'an uphill battle'

Immigration advocates said that, dissimilar Trump's erstwhile question ban, which caught them disconnected guard, they expected the president would enact a akin argumentation successful his 2nd term. Trump’s 2017 prohibition instantly barred Muslims from entering the country, leaving immoderate stranded astatine airports oregon incapable to committee flights.

But similar his erstwhile ban, the interaction of the existent prohibition taking effect adjacent week volition beryllium felt by radical trying to bring unneurotic families, those who landed a occupation successful the U.S., who had tours oregon visits planned, who planned to survey present oregon were looking guardant to a taste exchange.

It took 3 tries for Trump, successful his erstwhile administration, to travel up with a question prohibition that the U.S. Supreme Court would accept. Lower courts nixed the archetypal mentation and the medication kept revising it until the precocious tribunal accepted its 3rd mentation successful June 2018. Immigration and civilian rights groups opposed each 3 versions.

Raha Wala, vice president of strategy and partnerships astatine the National Immigration Law Center, said that challenging the latest prohibition “will beryllium an uphill battle” due to the fact that the Supreme Court determination is the instrumentality of the land.

Edward Cuccia, an migration lawyer successful New York City, said that blocking the latest prohibition could beryllium tougher present than successful 2017.

“Trump got smarter this time,” helium said, explaining that the premix of countries makes it harder to reason that the prohibition is discriminatory.

Also, the implementation won't beryllium arsenic abrupt and the statement that the singled-out nations bash not vet the documents of their citizens good whitethorn clasp up successful court, according to Cuccia.

Even so, the implications are immense for the radical who are affected and are not a information threat, helium said.

“What is this going to mean for household unification? There’s a batch of countries here!” Cuccia said. “And then, determination are radical that possibly had concern dealings, radical who wanted to bash investments present successful the United States oregon travel implicit connected impermanent enactment visas, pupil visas oregon adjacent conscionable to sojourn … That seems to beryllium gone retired the window.”

Wala called the justification for the prohibition — that visa overstays contiguous a nationalist information menace and the inability to afloat vet visa travelers successful those countries — a “fig leaf.”

If determination is simply a spread successful vetting, “that’s worthy taking a look at,” helium said, but added that “all kinds of radical overstay their visas — and conscionable due to the fact that idiosyncratic overstayed their visa and committed a crime, we conscionable person to get distant from this guilt by relation concept.”

For Wala, the recently announced prohibition cannot beryllium separated from the president's erstwhile policies and statements.

"This prohibition started arsenic the president saying helium was going to person a implicit and full shutdown of Muslims successful the country. And helium besides said helium wants to prohibition folks — and pardon my French present — from s---hole countries," Wala said.

In Miami, Colina said helium was gladsome the prohibition would forestall officials of Maduro’s authorities successful Venezuela and their families "who ever find a way" to get a visa to participate the country, "but they are a minority, and the partial prohibition volition negatively interaction the larger assemblage and it’s not fair.”