US administration says order aims to keep America safe, but advocates say ‘arbitrary’ ban will keep families apart.
Washington, DC – Donald Trump’s travel ban is the latest instalment in the United States president’s anti-immigration push, which plays to his right-wing base, advocates say, stressing that the order is not about public safety.
The decree, released late on Wednesday, bars and restricts travellers from 12 countries, including Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
While Trump has argued that the ban was put in place to protect the US from “foreign terrorists”, many believe the president has other motivations for implementing it.
“The latest travel ban is absolutely part and parcel of the administration’s agenda to weaponise immigration laws to target people who are racial and religious minorities and people with whom they disagree,” said Laurie Ball Cooper, vice president for US legal programmes at the International Refugee Assistance Project.
