Trump’s travel ban 2.0: Sweeping racism and Islamophobia masquerading as security

By Iqbal Jassat 

In yet another shocking display of irrational abuse of his power, US President Donald Trump has issued a new decree doubling the size of his travel ban, expanding restrictions from 19 countries to 39. 

The updated version of his discredited policy, which takes effect January 1, blocks or limits visa access for millions of people and adds sweeping new restrictions on individuals traveling on Palestinian Authority-issued documents.

To justify it, the White House said the countries on the expanded list show “serious failures in screening and information-sharing,” and that tighter entry rules are necessary to “protect the United States from individuals we cannot properly vet.”

While his MAGA support base has applauded Trump’s new travel ban as necessary to build on his first-term legacy, it is a deplorably racist act that yet again reinforces the US president's extremely irrational reliance on faulty intelligence informed by hate and prejudice. 

Using his dictatorial powers, the proclamation now places 39 countries under full or partial restrictions. 

Lacking any sense of justice, his irrational ban, according to analysts, means that roughly 1 in 5 people seeking to legally immigrate to the US are barred from doing so.

Nationals from the following 17 countries are barred from entering the United States on both immigrant and nonimmigrant visas: Afghanistan, Myanmar (Burma), Chad, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, Burkina Faso (new) , Mali (new) , Niger (new), South Sudan (new) and Syria (new).

The proclamation also fully restricts travel for Palestinians holding Palestinian Authority-issued travel documents, preventing both temporary visits and immigration.

The new proclamation is the largest expansion of travel restrictions since 2017 and extends to previously untouched regions.

Several countries that once faced only partial limits – including Laos and Sierra Leone – are now fully barred, and the new list leans heavily toward African countries, where US officials say gaps in identity documents, overstay rates, and repatriation cooperation make reliable screening difficult.

Twelve of the 15 countries that face partial restrictions are also in Africa. They include Angola, Benin, Ivory Coast, Gabon, Gambia, Malawi, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The rest are two Caribbean nations – Antigua and Barbuda, and Dominica – and Tonga in the South Pacific.

The hateful racism against African countries is embodied in Trump’s use of vulgar language. Using terms such as "shithole countries" and "trash" to justify his travel bans is reflective of despotic behavior. 

Describing Somalians as "garbage" is a racist declaration as much as it is vile Islamophobia, given that the majority of African countries Trump has targeted as "third world countries” are Muslim. 

Trump’s irrational paranoia is shared by his administration and is evident in the equally provocative statement issued by the Department of Homeland Security, which described its restrictions on legal immigration as “slamming the door shut on the foreign invaders who have undermined our national security.”

His obsession with many countries is not any different from that of Israeli war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu's crude policies targeting so-called "terrorism sponsors". 

Targeting Palestinians by slapping a ban on the Palestinian Authority will result in isolating families residing in the US from those seeking to unite with them. 

The same level of devastating separation applies to families of the rest of the countries slapped with the ban. 

This form of collective punishment is not only inhumane, but it is extremely cruel and unjust. 

The harsh reality, as explained by the American Immigration Council, is that hundreds of thousands of people who would otherwise qualify to obtain, maintain, or change their immigration status under current immigration law are now in limbo – as are their US citizen family members or employers who may seek to sponsor them.

That the ban is Islamophobic is evident in the remarks by Trump's Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard:

“Islamists and Islamism are the greatest threat to the freedom, security, and prosperity of the United States and the entire world. It is probably too late for Europe – and maybe Australia,” she wrote on X.

In expressing its condemnation of Trump's ban, the statement issued by The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) declared it to be a xenophobic and bigoted policy that primarily targets Black, African, and Muslim communities, and separates families based on national origin, race, and religion. 

To ignore or be silent on Trump’s bigoted ban is to weaponize America's immigration laws against people unfairly targeted as "garbage."

It must be denounced as a shameful racist act to sow division, fear, hate, suspicion and mistrust. 

Iqbal Jassat is an executive member of the Media Review Network, Johannesburg, South Africa.

(The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of Press TV)

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