Donald Trump’s travel ban is the most recent example of the president’s anti-immigration campaign, according to supporters in Washington, DC.
Travelers from 12 different nations are barred and subject to restrictions by the decree, which was made public late on Wednesday.
Many people believe the president has other motivations to put the ban into effect, even though Trump has argued that it was intended to shield the country from “foreign terrorists.”
The administration’s latest travel ban is “absolutely part and parcel of their plan to systematically racial and religious minorities and those who disagree with them,” according to Laurie Ball Cooper, vice president for US legal programs at the International Refugee Assistance Project.
The move is intended to “placate” Trump’s supporters, according to Abed Ayoub, executive director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC).
Ayoub told Al Jazeera, “This administration has taken the “tough on immigration” stance on a number of issues since coming into office.
The Trump administration has aggressively increased deportations, targeted foreign students critical of Israel, and pushed them out of the country in some cases since his inauguration in January.
Immigration experts said the travel ban had been anticipated since Trump’s executive order, which made it happen, was signed in January.
According to that decree, US officials were required to compile a list of nations “for which the lack of vetting and screening information warrants a partial or full suspension of national admission from those nations.”
Trump claimed in the statement announcing the ban that the targeted nations “remain deficient in terms of screening and vetting.”
2025 ban vs 2017 ban
Trump has also imposed a travel ban on several occasions. The US president’s ban was repeatedly reintroduced on Wednesday during his first term in office, adding to the order’s numerous predecessors.
Trump issued a ban on citizens from seven Muslim-majority nations a week after taking office, a ban known as the “Muslim ban.”
He campaigned for “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States,” and the 2017 proclamation sounded like it reflected that claim.
There are significant differences between the most recent law and the one that was put into effect in 2017, which initially addressed legal permanent residents and those with visas.
The order lists specific exceptions, including those for those who already have visas that will remain in effect. Additionally, immediate family members of US citizens can apply for and obtain visas.
Trump’s executive order was signed on Monday, five days after the original “Muslim ban,” which was immediately and chaotically implemented.
Additionally, the most recent travel ban affects nations with people from various religious backgrounds spread across four continents, making it difficult to raise a case for religious bias in court.
Additionally, before the Supreme Court upheld the third and final version of Trump’s administration, federal judges initially imposed the first and second terms of his first term.
According to Ayoub, “It seems like much more thought and reasoning was put into this.” He added that the ban is “not as bad” as the ban from 2017 and will be challenging in some ways.
Ayoub expressed his hope that the administration will grant more exemptions and collaborate with the countries in removing them from the list because it is unlikely that the courts would halt the order.
Cooper predicted a devastating impact from the ban.
For instance, people who have followed the rules and have been waiting for years to have their immigration interviews join their loved ones in the US are not included in the exemption for immediate relatives.
According to Cooper, “There are still people who are on the verge of reuniting with their families, who are about to enter safety in the United States, and who are prevented from that reunification and from that access to safety as a result of this travel ban,” Cooper said. “Families will be kept apart,” he said.
Why now, exactly?
The original “Muslim ban” was also changed on Wednesday, which is when the decree was issued. More than five months into Trump’s second term, it was.
Trump has linked the travel ban to a Sunday attack that US authorities linked to an asylum seeker from Egypt. In support of Israeli prisoners held in Gaza, he was accused of using a makeshift flamethrower and Molotov cocktails to harm 12 protesters in Boulder, Colorado.
However, Egypt is not listed among the nations that are prohibited, and Trump claimed that Egypt is a US ally with “things under control” on Thursday when questioned about why not.
“And why now, then?” To be honest, I can’t say it can’t be done quickly enough.
We want to exclude bad people from our nation. We are removing some horrendous people from the Biden administration one by one.
Cooper claimed that by implementing the order in its wake in Colorado, the Trump administration is “exploiting the tragedy.”
In the end, she said, “I’m not convinced that this is a response to that given the way the travel ban operates.”
However, punishing groups of people based on their nationality because of what one other person allegedly did is not the right response, even if it were, even when there is a tragedy, even when something terrible happens.
Cooper added that the order is “arbitrary,” noting that there are exceptions for athletes competing in the 2028 Summer Olympics and the World Cup next year but not for students.
Trump has been accused of imposing the ban to distract from his domestic issues, including his feud with his ex-billionaire aide Elon Musk and his pending passage of a massive tax bill.
Senator Chris Murphy told MSNBC, “Anytime you ban people entering the United States from other countries, it has a real impact.”
