On January 31, the Trump Administration added six countries to its three-year-old travel ban. Once colloquially known as the “Muslim Ban,” the parameters of exclusion seem to have broadened with this new wave of restrictions. While Jewish World Watch (JWW) does not usually comment on immigration policy, since our focus is on protecting civilians from mass atrocity crimes, we are compelled to draw attention to actions that could fuel xenophobia and nationalism — two of the major drivers of genocide and mass atrocities the world over. Our concern is that this new expanded ban undergirds “othering” in creating more closed-door policies to certain parts of the world.
In January 2017, President Trump issued his initial travel ban, temporarily suspending entry through U.S. borders to refugees from around the world and barring entry to people from seven Muslim-majority countries. Significant portions of the original ban and later versions were blocked by federal courts, with some determining the bans to be anti-Muslim, discriminatory, unconstitutional, or an abuse of presidential authority. On June 26, 2018, however, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a version of the ban that targeted citizens of Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, Venezuela, and North Korea.
Citing “information sharing deficiencies and national security risk factors,” the Trump Administration’s new order, which goes into effect on Feb. 22, expands the ban to six more countries. Citizens from Nigeria, Eritrea, Myanmar and Kyrgyzstan can no longer apply for visas to work and live in the United States, while Sudan and Tanzania will no longer be able to participate in the diversity visa lottery, which offers green cards to immigrants from underrepresented countries each year. This newest incarnation of the ban appears to be continuing a pattern of discrimination on the basis of race and nationality.
For Jewish World Watch, this new iteration of the travel ban is especially unsettling because two of the countries on the expanded list represent major areas of JWW’s work: Sudan and Myanmar. The Darfur genocide prompted the founding of JWW, and we have remained engaged in the country ever since. Currently, Sudan is going through a critical transition as it attempts to untether from its authoritarian past and move towards civilian-led democracy. At this existential juncture, Washington’s shepherding and encouragement should be at its strongest. The promise of normalizing relations with the United States should be employed as a carrot to engendering positive change. Instead, the addition of Sudan to the administration’s travel ban smacks of regression — of continuing to penalize a nation even as it struggles to evolve beyond its genocidal past. Congresswoman Karen Bass recently travelled on a delegation to Sudan with hopes of supporting the country’s efforts towards democracy. In a letter to President Trump, she wrote, “The United States recently took meaningful steps to strengthen the U.S.-Sudan bilateral relationship and this would send the wrong message at this critical time in Sudan’s transition to a civilian-led government. We urge you to take Sudan off the list as it will negatively impact Sudan’s path toward democracy and peace.” Jewish World Watch seconds Congresswoman Bass’s concerns that “additional travel restrictions from Sudan would send the wrong message to the Sudanese government, to the Sudanese people, and to the rest of the world.”
In the case of Myanmar, the travel ban dangerously shuts U.S. borders to civilians subject to an ongoing genocide. In August 2017, the Myanmar military unleashed a merciless “clearance operation” against the Rohingya, a Muslim minority group, catalyzing a massive exodus of over 750,000 people — mostly women and children — to neighboring Bangladesh. Over two years later, nearly 1 million Rohingya remain trapped in limbo in squalid, overcrowded camps in Bangladesh; and, because Myanmar stripped them of their citizenship rights, they are de facto stateless with nowhere to go. An additional 600,000 Rohingya remain inside Myanmar, struggling to survive in an unconscionable apartheid system, ghettoized in internment camps and completely deprived of their basic human rights. The UN says the Rohingya remaining inside Myanmar are at greater risk of another wave of genocide than ever before. So much so that the International Court of Justice just ordered the government of Myanmar to take provisional measures to prevent genocide, control its armed forces, and report on its compliance with protecting the Rohingya from harm. These are the people the United States is shutting out. This country, built on welcoming the stranger, will be turning away the world’s most vulnerable people — innocent civilians at risk of extermination.
In September of last year, an article in the New York Times warned that the Trump Administration’s immigration policies could keep Rohingya children who had found safety in the U.S. from ever seeing their parents or loved ones again. The expanded travel ban makes this separation even more definitive.
Jewish World Watch has stood hand in hand with our local Rohingya diaspora community members since the genocide began. Ko Ko Naing, President of the Burmese American Muslim Association, had this to say about the expanded ban: “Our community feels this is a legalized bigotry that silences American Muslims, tears immigrant families apart and betrays this country’s historic role as a beacon to people fleeing poverty, violence and oppression [around] the world….This will have a major impact on family reunification visas and other immigrant visas for the Rohingya families wishing to reunify with family….Our community sees the United States as a land of opportunity and freedom and we feel this compromises…[the] American dream of an equal opportunity to participate and contribute to America.”
What message does it send to these survivors of genocide that while international courts are finally taking notice and working towards justice for the Rohingya on multiple fronts, the United States is making sure they go anywhere but here?
Thankfully, some members of Congress are working to try to stop the travel ban, its continued expansion, and its encroachment on our shared values and notion of what this country represents — both for us and to the rest of the world. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del) and Congresswoman Judy Chu (D-Calif) introduced the NO BAN Act in both the Senate and House in April 2019, and the announcement of this newest expansion has reinvigorated efforts to stop this policy of discriminatory “othering” once and for all. Companion bills in the Senate and House aim to repeal President Trump’s existing executive order and prevent future travel bans from taking effect.
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Openness to the world and concerns for our national security are not mutually exclusive. Maintaining America’s position as a global promoter of human rights, democracy, and inclusivity serves our national interests, rather than exposing us to harm. As Sen. Coons articulated, this travel ban does nothing but fuel “already growing division and intolerance here at home.” Please reach out to your members of Congress to ask them to support the NO BAN Act, to stop these exclusionary policies so that the United States can return to its foundational role as a safe haven for those fleeing persecution and atrocities.
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