Locals react to reinstated Trump travel ban
W theASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s ban on travel from six predominantly Muslim countries is set to go into effect Thursday, following U.S. Supreme Court’s decision Monday to reinstate parts of the president’s controversial executive order that had previously been stricken down by lower courts.
Those six countries, which include Syria, Iran, Somalia, Sudan, Libya and Yemen, were identified by the Trump administration as needing their visa application process reviewed to prevent their citizens from potentially carrying out terrorist attacks in the United States.
Locally, the 90-day travel ban has the potential to impact some individuals with ties to the six countries the executive order targeted, said Dr. Majid Mani, president of the Imperial County Medical Society (ICMS).
The medical society represents dozens of local physicians, about half of whom are foreign-born.
Of those foreign-born physicians, about 10 to 20 percent hail from the six countries identified in the socalled travel ban, Mani said.
“Physicians who want to travel home, see their families and come back may have an issue unless they are citizens,” Mani said.
Foreign-born physicians have long provided a much-needed boost in the number of doctors employed in rural areas across the state and nation.
Yet, the reinstated travel ban isn’t likely to impact the county’s ability to attract and retain such physicians, said Thomas Henderson, ICMS executive director.
As the U.S. Supreme Court justices affirmed Monday in its 13-page ruling, Trump’s executive order banning travel from the listed countries “may not be enforced against foreign nationals who have a credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States.”
Similar to many of the foreign-born doctors practicing medicine across the nation, many of those currently employed in the Valley had once arrived stateside to obtain additional medial training as part of the federal government’s J-1 visa program.
The J-1 visa program allows graduates of non U.S. medical schools to obtain additional medical training in the U.S., and potentially remain working as physicians in the U.S. after training is completed.
“All those foreign-born doctors actually have a connection,” Henderson said, noting their exemption from the travel ban. “None of our doctors would come here without connections.”
On Monday, Trump issued an official statement hailing the Supreme Court’s decision as “a clear victory for our national security.”
“As President, I cannot allow people into our country who want to do us harm,” he stated. “I want people who can love the United States and all of its citizens, and who will be hardworking and productive.”
The Trump administration’s travel ban had previously experienced a number of legal setbacks when it was originally rolled out in January. Lawsuits challenging the travel ban eventually made their way to several federal courts which separately issued rulings that prevented the ban from being enforced, arguing that it unlawfully discriminated against Muslims.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s opinion on Monday allowed for the implementation of what Trump himself at one point referred to as a “watered-down” version of his original travel ban.
Since January, the Trump administration has also made efforts to keep the executive order from being characterized as a “Muslim ban,” which has hardly appeased critics such as Hanif Mohebi, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations San Diego chapter.
“One thing should be very clear — it is a Muslim ban, not a travel ban,” Mohebi said.
With the U.S. Supreme Court expected to review the travel ban in October, the regional CAIR chapter is currently assessing the situation and determining how best to proceed, Mohebi said, adding that the travel ban will do nothing to safeguard or further promote national security.
In his estimation, such policies are more apt to promote “bigotry and fear” and cause further harm to communities that have faced discriminatory practices in the past. Thankfully, Mohebi said, a broad coalition of civil rights organizations have banded together to challenge such “Islamophobic” policies.
“What we need to do is make sure we vow to keep up the work regardless of who’s in power,” Mohebi said.
Staff Writer Julio Morales can be reached at 760-337-3415 or at jmorales@ivpressonline.com