Trump's New Travel Ban Is 'Most Extreme' Version Yet, NY Immigration Group Warns

JOHN F. KENNEDY INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, NY — Back in January, when newly inaugurated U.S. President Donald Trump signed his first "travel ban" targeting seven Muslim-majority countries, chaos erupted at NYC's main entry point from the outside world. Dozens of immigrants were held in detention at JFK Airport overnight — and some for more than 30 hours — while their friends and family members panicked in the arrivals hall. More than 1,000 protesters gathered outside Terminal 4, demanding that Homeland Security agents "Let them in! Let them in!"

By comparison, the real-time fallout from Trump's latest version of the ban — signed Sept. 24 and set to go into effect Oct. 18 — will likely be less dramatic, seeing as both travelers and government agents will have more time to prepare.

But the ban in its updated form will have "more extreme" effects than any other version we've seen so far, according to Camille Mackler, director of legal initiatives for the New York Immigration Coalition, a leader in the local fight against Trump's ever-morphing "dressed up Muslim ban" (as the coalition is calling it).

Why? First and foremost, "because it's permanent," Mackler said, whereas previous drafts had expiration dates.

Trump issued his latest travel ban late Sunday night, under the name "Presidential Proclamation Enhancing Vetting Capabilities and Processes for Detecting Attempted Entry Into the United States by Terrorists or Other Public-Safety Threats." You can read the full document here.

Here's what it will mean, come Oct. 18:

• All citizens of Syria will be barred from entering America indefinitely.

• All citizens of Iran will also be barred indefinitely, except for those issued student or "exchange visitor" visas after "enhanced screening and vetting."

• All citizens of Libya, Yemen and Chad will be barred from coming to America as long-term or permanent immigrants (aka, on a green card) or on tourist or business visas. Applications for other types of visas — for students, exchange visitors, artists, athletes, etc. — will still be considered.

• All citizens of North Korea — and, bizarrely, only government officials from Venezuela — will be barred indefinitely. These two countries (plus Chad) were tacked onto the ban, Trump said, because they didn't pass a first-of-its-kind review of nearly 200 foreign governments by the Department of Homeland Security. The review supposedly measured each country's "capacity, ability, and willingness to cooperate with our identity-management and information-sharing policies" and their "risk factors, such as... a significant terrorist presence." But skeptics see the inclusion of North Korea and Venezuela more as a way for Trump's team to argue in court that his ban doesn't target Muslims.

• Citizens of Somalia will be barred from coming to America long-term, on a green card. However, those who want to come short-term may be approved for a visa after "additional scrutiny" from Homeland Security. (A vague term that likewise worries the ban's opponents.)

• Citizens of Iraq and Sudan will no longer be barred from entry. However, everyone from Iraq will now be subject to "additional scrutiny." And while Sudan doesn't even appear in the latest ban, Trump targeted it in a different decision last week that canceled America's "temporary protected status" for Sudanese citizens — effectively kicking some 1,000 Sudanese refugees out of the U.S.

• The ban will not affect anyone, even from the countries listed above, who holds a valid visa issued before Oct. 18; refugees approved for U.S. asylum; foreign diplomats carrying a valid diplomatic visa; or dual citizens of the banned countries who hold a valid passport from their non-banned home country. (Still unsure how you'll be affected? Here's an even more in-depth analysis from the New York Immigration Coalition.)

American civil-rights groups did not immediately file a lawsuit against Trump's Sunday night "proclamation." Instead, for the time being, they'll be fighting it via upcoming Supreme Court hearings on the old version of the ban.

In fact, the Supreme Court has asked both parties in that ongoing case — the Trump administration on one side, and on the other, a group of rights orgs led by the ACLU — to submit 10-page legal briefs by Oct. 5 on where they each think the case should go next, given this (quite colossal) new development.

We could also see some emergency lawsuits filed right after the new ban goes into effect on Oct. 18, on behalf of specific immigrants who become trapped in airport detention, Mackler said — just like back in January.

"It all depends on how this plays out at the airports," she said.

The American public will only feel a fraction of the turmoil caused by Trump's latest order on home soil, Mackler said.

That's because, like the last ban, it will mostly affect people abroad trying to come to the U.S. (and by proxy, any of their loved ones already living here). For example, immigrant hopefuls who were in the process of applying for a visa but now likely won't be granted one, or friends and family of U.S. residents who can no longer come visit.

"A wholesale ban on Syria means that those that I love are not allowed to be a part of my current life here in the United States," said Rama-Issa Ibrahim, a Syrian immigrant and executive director of the Arab-American Association of New York, at an emergency press conference Monday. (Video below.)

Trump's new ban "will continue to create more confusion and chaos among travelers and their families," Issa-Ibrahim said. And its indefinite nature will mean "communities, especially Middle Eastern and North African communities, will live in limbo, with no end in sight," she said. "Families and loved ones will be torn apart."

The ban has also opened up a whole new world of insecurity for U.S. immigrants from Trump's nine blacklisted countries who currently live here on temporary school or work visas.

Under the old system, if these immigrants wanted to continue building a life in America, they would have re-applied for a visa or applied for a green card once their old visa expired, Mackler said. Trump's latest order doesn't give most of them that option. So they may have no choice but to go home — or live here illegally, in fear of deportation — when their current document voids out.

"We have been getting a lot more calls and emails" from NYC immigrants worried about their future in the city and the country, Mackler said Monday, than when the president signed his previous drafts of the ban.

Anyone with concerns about their own status in the U.S., or the status of a loved one, can call the New York Immigration Coalition at (212) 627-2227.

This story has been updated to include additional details. Lead photo by Simone Wilson/Patch