Trump's travel ban hits families, tourists
Advocates label policy 'cruel' for disrupting lives
By: Dinah Voyles Pulver
USA Today
..... Reaction to President Donald Trump;s new travel ban was swift in South Florida, home to what are believed to be the largest Venezuelan, Haitian and Cuban communities in the United States.
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"I am deeply concerned by this decision which further divides us as Americans and harms hardworking families contributing to the essential fabric of our community," Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cave said in a June 5 [2025] social media post. "The work of our federal government should be to protect our borders and pass comprehensive immigration reform, not tear down our communities."
..... Trump's proclamation, signed June 4 [2025] took effect June 9. [2025] The Trump administration cited security reasons for the bans on travelers form a dozen countries and restitutions on those from seven others. It prohibits entry into the United States of foreign nationals from Afghanistan, Burmas, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equyatorial Guinea, Eritrea. Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. Travel restriction including suspension, will be placed on those from Buyrundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.
.... of the nearly 1.7 million visas issued to people form those countries between 2014 and 2023, almost half were from Venezuela.
..... The proclamation suspends entry into the United States for Venezuelan nationals with Temporary work, study and tourist visas.
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"Venezuela lacks a competent or cooperative central authority for issuing passports or civil documents and it does not have appropriate screening and vetting measures," the proclamation said. It also mentioned that the overstay rate on visas form the country is nearly 10%.
..... A mother form Venezuela who moved to South Florida six years ago told CBS News she's unsure whether her adult son, who remains in the South American country, will be allowed to visit her. The announcement also prompted concern among bloggers who write about Disney parks in California and Florida, who questioned the impact the restrictions could have on the thousands who visit the parks each year from Venezuela.
..... Members of South Florida's Haitian community also spoke out about the ban. More than 230,000 native Haitians live in the metropolitan area, roughly 4% of the region's population, according to the Migration Policy Institute.
..... Marleine Bastien, who was born in Hatti and now serves on the Miami-Dade Board of County commissioners, said she's "deeply disheartened" by the ban. In a statement, she called it "cruel and xenophobic" and a "blatant attempt to scapegoat an already suffering people."
..... "This unjust policy will sow chaos in our communities, separation families, and disrupting lives," said Bastien, founder of Family Action Network Movement, a South Florida-based organization. The decision is a "betrayal of the values America claims to uphold - compassion, justice, and opportunity for all," she added.
..... Haitians averaged 24,337 non-immigrant visas a year for the United States over the decade and Cubans averaged 12,464. Travel form the countries plunged during the pandemic but had begun to increase avians by 2023, Haitians received 10,515 non-immigant visas that year and Cubans received 6,146.
..... Trump's proclamation states that he has directed Secretary of State Marco Rubio and others to identify countries where the vetting and screening information is "so deficient as to warrant a full or partial suspension of nationals of these countries into the United States. the group had found a number of countries deficient, the proclamation states.
..... Rubio, a South Florida native whose parents migrated from Cuba in 1956, shared on X a post from the White House, attributed to Trump: "We cannot have open migration from any country where we cannot safely and reliably vet and screen. ... That is why today [06/04/2025] I am signing a new executive order placing travel restrictions on countries including Yemen, Somalia, Haiti, Libya and numerous others."
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USA Today looked at how m,any visas were distributed to foreign nationals from the countries in question over the past decade. A non-immigant visa is a temporary document, issued for tourism, temporary work, medical care, study or business.
..... Combined, foreign nationals in the counties now facing travel bans accounted for fewer than 63,000 non-immigrant visas in 2023, the most recent year for which statistics are available. At least two dozen other countries not included in the ban each accounted for more visitor visas that year.
..... While Venezuela leads all the 19 recently restricted counties in visitors to the United States. Iranians received 17,634 non-immigrant visas in 2023, more than any of the dozen countries facing the U.S. documents recognize as Burma, received the next most with 13,284.
..... Sudan received 4,506 visas, followed by Yemen (4,204), Afghanistan (2,665), Libra (2,259), Congo (2,175), Chad (2,090), Equatorial Guinea (1,534), Eritrea (931) and Somalia (473).
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Looking at the decade overall, Haitians topped the list, receiving the most non-immigrat visas among the banned countries at 243,369, Iran was second with 162,256 and Burma/Myanmar was third with 115,520.
..... Among the countries facing travel restrictions rather than bans, foreign nationals form five of those - sierra Leone, Togo, Laos, Turkmenistan and Burundi - received fewer than 8,500 non-immigrant visas combined in 2023.
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Mexico led the world at 2.3 million non-immigrat visas in 2023. The figure also includes border crossing cards, laminated cards that allow Mexicans to cross the border between the nations for periods of less than 30 days.
..... More than 1.3 million people planning too visit the United States from India received non-immigrant visas in 2023 and 1.06 million form Brazil.
..... Other countries whose nationalities revived the most visiting visas in 2023 include Colombia (476,293), China (417,008), Argentina (291,892), Ecuador (174,799), Philippines (285,860), Israel (190,415), Vietnam (133,781), Dominican Republic (130,360), Turkey (130,168), Nigeria (113,695) and Peru (111,851).