Trump administration planning trips ban
The Trump administration plans to implement a travel ban that blocks several for entry.
The Trump administration is supposed to introduce a travel ban that affects people in dozens of countries, which could lead to deport even green card holders. The ban could raise concerns about its broad language and curb freedom of speech.
President Donald Trump is preparing to impose a new travel ban that bans or limits people from dozens of countries from entering the United States, marking a significant expansion from previous versions that have segregated travelers, separated and sparked massive protests at airports.
The pending ban comes from an executive order signed by Trump on his first day, directing the State Department and Homeland Security Authority.
The measures protect the nation from “aliens who commit terrorist attacks, threaten national security, support hate ideology, or intend to exploit immigration laws for malicious purposes.”
Trump's order also said since January 21, 2021, anyone entering the United States from a country with a particularly identified security risk could be deported if they fail to meet new screening criteria, such as whether to bear “hostile attitudes” towards the country.
It is not yet known whether the new travel ban policy will cover individuals with existing visas and green cards. However, immigration and anti-discrimination advocates suspect that individuals arriving in the United States from their target countries are facing special scrutiny, noting that they are beginning to revoke visas for legal residents who support the Palestinian cause.
President Jamal Abdi of the National Council of Iranian-Americans said last week in a panel that he believed the ban was motivated by discrimination rather than safety, recalling past comments by Trump calling for “a complete and complete closure of Muslims entering the United States.”
“This travel ban, which the administration plans to revive, undermines our national security, weakens our economy, and undermines our core values, like free speech,” Abdi said. “It forces American families and communities like us to live in fear and live on the assumption that governments are always watching. If we don't continue the very partisan line defined by our current administration, we, our friends and our loved ones could be kicked out of this country.”
The White House says that it is necessary to protect the country “from foreign terrorists” and to ensure that foreigners who have approved entry to the United States are not intended to harm Americans or our national interests.
Who will be banned?
Reuters reported that the new travel ban could also target 41 countries.
The first “red” groups of ten countries, including Afghanistan, Iran, Sudan, Venezuela, Libya, Yemen, Syria, Cuba and North Korea, will face full visa suspensions.
The five countries on the “Orange” list (Eritrea, Haiti, Laos, Myanmar and South Sudan) will face partial suspensions of immigration visas. A memo obtained by Reuters states that if the government “does not make an effort to address the defect within 60 days,” the third “yellow” group of 26 African countries, primarily African countries, will face a partial halt if the government “does not make an effort to address the shortage.”
The New York Times has obtained a slightly different draft list, showing that Bhutan also faces a fall ban, with Belarus, Pakistan, Russia, Sierra Leone and Turkmenistan listing in the second “orange” group instead of “yellow”.
The pending ban returned to Trump's first term, when he banned people from seven Muslim countries from entering the United States in one of his first acts as president. The federal court blocked Trump's first and second bans, citing the lack of evidence that they found themselves motivated by anti-Muslim animus and helped national security. In 2018, the Supreme Court upheld the effectiveness of a third travel ban within the president's authority.
The administration's policies were called “Muslim bans” by critics, causing intense protests and gusts of lawsuits. People who have had years of reviews, interviews and medical checks suddenly cancelled their visas. Married couples were forced to live apart. And relatives were unable to visit their family due to weddings, funerals and births, Northjersey.com reported at the time.
In the immigrant community, anxiety is rising through pending bans.
Speaking at the Islamic Centre in Paseyic County on March 12, lawyer Omar Mohammeme asked the crowd about who is included and whether people could target political views.
“People with F1 (student) visas need to be careful. There aren't many green cards,” he said in regards to political expression. “In the end, you can't guarantee anything. Everything is very unstable right now.”
Mohammedi did not believe that the court would allow green cardholders to be deported for political opposition.
When the Council of America and Islamic Relations, or Cair, held an online forum on February 27th, viewers killed the chat with similar questions. Will my country be targeted?
Cair advised people to avoid travel outside the US if the country of origin is likely to be included in the ban. If you are detained at an airport or border, please say “as little as possible” as your agent is taking part in a “fishing expedition” for information added to your intelligence report. They also need to be aware of what they share online, the lawyer said.
The university has also warned students and faculty to avoid or postpone international travel if they are not citizens due to travel restrictions and potential changes in visa processing.
The “cold effect” on freedom of speech
The Trump Order, which laid the foundation for the ban, states that everyone has been found to be “hospitable to citizens, culture, government, institutions or establishment principles.”
Supporters raised concerns about “ideological tests,” which the government described as “ambiguous” and attacks on freedom of speech.
“This is far more dangerous than the Muslim ban we saw in 2017,” says Ayoub, national executive director of the American Commission on Prevention and Prevention of Arabs Abed. “It's far more dangerous than rejecting someone a visa, because now they're chasing the individuals here. You'll feel a calm impact on freedom of speech and freedom of expression.”
They pointed to the incident of Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbia graduate student who was detained by immigration authorities on March 8, saying his green card has been revoked. A Palestinian born in Syria, Khalil played an important role as a key negotiator and communication liaison in student protests. Although Halil was not charged with a crime, he said the Trump administration should be deported for protests, which is equated with anti-Semitism and support for terrorism.
In a court application, the United States cited a rarely used provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act that the Secretary of State can move to deport anyone whose existence has the consequences of “adverse” foreign policy. The provisions filed in the Khalil case were first used “to target Eastern European Holocaust survivors suspected of being Soviet agents,” the forward reported.
Last week, the US deported Dr. Rasha Alawieh, a doctor of kidney and associate professor at Brown University, and said he was taking photos over the phone to Hassan Nasrallah, a religious clergyman and former leader of extremist group Hezbollah. The department did not say how he knew he attended a funeral held at a sports stadium and attracted tens of thousands of people.
On Monday, the agent detained a postdoctoral researcher from Georgetown University and an Indian teacher, and told him that the government had revoked his visa, Polichko reported. The government said he spread “Hamas propaganda” and that he has connections with Hamas advisors. News reports said it appears to be linked to a relative of his wife, a US citizen of Palestinian heritage.
Suri's lawyer, Hassan Ahmad, said the Trump administration never made pro-fat or anti-Semitic comments by calling detention “beyond light empty.” He is being punished for his wife's legacy and for his government suspects that he and his wife are opposed to our foreign policy against Israel,” Assad said.
Lebanon and India are not in the draft list of the banned countries.
Management officials have confirmed that visa and green cardholders who participate in the protests and share information they consider to be “prohama” or “anti-Semitic” have no right to stay in the country.
“This is not about freedom of speech,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said at a press conference last week. “This is about people who don't have the right to be in the US in the first place. No one has the right to a student visa. No one has the right to a green card.”
“Obvious and Overlord”
The American and Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, a legal advocacy group, filed a lawsuit Saturday in Upstate District Court for New York, which challenges the Trump administration's actions to expel international students and academics protesting or expressing Palestinian rights as unconstitutional.
The lawsuit seeks a restraining order to block the enforcement of two executive orders. This is a related order that laid the foundation for a new travel ban and calls for the deportation of students who participated in the pro-Palestinian protests.
The order was “unconstitutional, ambiguous and overlord,” the American and Arab Differentiation Committee filed a lawsuit against counsel Eric Lee on behalf of two graduate students and professors at Cornell University. The order also “prohibited speaking, hearing, or engaging with critical perspectives of the US or Israeli government under the threat of criminal prosecution or deportation and protected expression.”
Advocates warned that new precedents could be used to target other groups. They pointed out that McCarthyism, a political persecution movement in the 1950s, initially targeted communist suspects and then spread to other leftist activists, journalists, academics and workers' leaders.
On the campaign trail, Trump said he wanted to use immigration and nationality laws “to protect foreigners, Christian-hate communists, Marxists and socialists from America.”
“Americans need to know,” said Abedoyub, national executive director of the American and Arab Anti-Discrimination Commission.
