New travel ban draws anger and shrugs
When President Donald Trump announced the latest and most far-reaching version of his travel ban on Sunday, the White House said it had come after exhaustive planning. It was meant to prevent the confusion and chaos his first travel ban created at airports, colleges and technology companies in America and refugee camps around the world in January.
The White House said the new policy was more narrowly targeted than its precursor, which was swiftly blocked by the courts. But immigrant and diaspora communities from the affected countries once again reacted with dismay, and refugee advocates denounced the new decree as more of the same.
“This is still a Muslim ban,” Becca Heller, director of the International Refugee Assistance Project, said, adding that the changes in the new ban were not material enough to change that.
The first travel ban was blocked by federal judges because it was perceived to discriminate against Muslims; the Trump administration argued it was a security measure designed to thwart terrorism. A revised version of that ban expired Sunday.
The new version, which is to take effect on Oct. 18, adds Chad, North Korea and Venezuela to the list of affected countries and drops Sudan. (The other affected countries are Iran, Libya, Syria, Yemen and Somalia.)
Different restrictions were imposed on each of the three additions, depending on the threat they were deemed to pose. For example, for Venezuela the ban applies only to visits by certain government officials and their families, while Somalis are barred from emigrating to the U.S. but not from visiting.
The addition of Chad to Trump’s travel ban took the Chadian government by surprise and bewildered analysts of Central Africa.
With a mixed population of Muslims and Christians, Chad has been a longtime U.S. ally in fighting Islamist militants in the region, including offshoots of al-Qaida and Boko Haram, and its troops took part in a French-led effort to root out Islamist militants from parts of Mali in 2013.