Max Herman/Borderless MagazineAfter Trump’s proposed travel ban leaked, immigrant advocacy groups said the reported plan would disproportionately impact Arab, African and Asian countries.
Several immigrant advocacy organizations are building coalitions as they gear up for President Donald Trump’s revival of a controversial travel ban.
At Federal Plaza on Wednesday, organizers spoke out against the anticipated ban that could expand the scope of Trump’s previous travel ban and impact over 40 countries —many of them in Asia and Africa.
“In 2017, we…correctly called it a Muslim ban for what it was—this is much broader than that,” said Muhammad Sankari, lead organizer with the Arab American Action Network (AAAN). “This is really an expansion of the racist ideology of this administration—of who has rights, who should have rights, and what people should be allowed into this country.”
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Last week, the New York Times reported the Trump administration’s plan to revive elements of the 2017 ban. The draft includes more than 40 countries, some sanctioned by Trump in his first-term travel bans, but many are new, including Afghanistan, Bhutan and Myanmar.
The 2017 travel ban policy, which sparked widespread protests and faced repeated legal challenges, disproportionately impacted Muslims and immigrants from African countries. Advocates in today’s press conference said they are mobilizing early to prevent history from repeating itself.
Meanwhile, attorneys and advocates are raising the alarm about actions from U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents at airports and ports of entry nationwide.
Organizations like the Arab American Action Network (AAAN), United African Organization, Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAJC), the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR), and Centro Romero decried reports of permanent residents and green card holders being detained, denied entry, and deported despite judicial order blocking immediate removal.
“Let me be clear—this is authoritarian and unjust,” said Grace Pai, executive director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice Chicago.
Others like Nadiah Aly-Afai, a Yemeni American organizer with AAAN said that while the travel ban policy hasn’t been enacted, they were committed to fighting back.
Trump’s travel policies are already having real effects on local immigrant communities, advocates said.
In recent weeks, a Palestinian family traveling for a wedding was separated at O’Hare International Airport. One of their sons was deported to Poland even though all family members had valid visas, Sankari said.
Speakers emphasized that such incidents, though currently unofficial, signal a de facto implementation of the travel ban.
“We feel as though it’s being implemented in practice,” said Brandon Lee, director of communications at Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR). “The message of today is that our communities are united and fighting back… against the policies from the Trump administration that separate families.”
For many, the policy threatens to upend personal lives and relationships—cutting families off from reunions, celebrations and education.
“This will deny families the opportunities to visit one another for special occasions, weddings, graduations, and religious celebrations like upcoming Eid,” said Fasika Alem, programs director at United African Organization. (Eid al-Fitr is the first of the two official holidays celebrated within Islam.) “This has nothing to do with national security. This is about exclusion. It is reckless, it’s cruel, it’s xenophobic.”
Advocates are monitoring ports of entry, gathering testimonies, and building coalitions to resist any policy that discriminates against immigrants based on race, religion, or nationality.
“We are united in a collective struggle against an agenda that seeks to divide, oppress, and marginalize us,” Aly-Afai said. “We will continue to build our power, organize our communities, and take action at every level.”
“We will not stay silent in the face of injustice. We are committed to fighting back, just as AAAN, alongside our allies, did in 2017 when we took the streets and shut down O’Hare Airport,” she said.
“We know when we fight together, we win.”
Fatema Hosseini is a Roy W. Howard Investigative Reporting fellow covering immigrant communities for Borderless Magazine. Send her an email at [email protected].
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