Trump travel ban: AZ advocates share concerns of refugee families

AZ advocates speak out on Trump travel ban

Just days after President Donald Trump's new travel ban went into effect, refugee advocates in Arizona are talking about its impact. FOX 10's Nicole Krasean reports.

PHOENIX - Refugee advocates are speaking out against the Trump administration’s new travel ban against 12 countries, saying some hard-working families will now have to wait to be reunited.

The backstory:

According to the Associated Press, President Donald Trump’s travel ban applies to citizens of the following countries:

• Afghanistan
• Chad
• Congo, Republic of
• Equatorial Guinea
• Eritrea
• Haiti
• Iran
• Libya
• Myanmar
• Somalia
• Sudan
• Yemen

The order also imposes heightened restrictions on people from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuelans who are outside the U.S., and don’t hold a valid visa. There are some exemptions from the ban, including a case-by-case analysis of "United States national interest."

While the ban doesn’t revoke previously issued visas, some individuals just one step away from taking that flight to reunite with their families are now barred from the U.S., and advocates say this breaks promises made by the government years ago.

What Advocates Are Saying:

"The impact is chaos and devastation," said Julianna Larsen, CEO of the Arizona Refugee Center.

At the Arizona Refugee Center, more than 80 families connected to the Operation Allies Welcome effort have been able to resettle in the Grand Canyon State, and the new Trump travel ban is now affecting more of those families.

"Over 20,000 men and women who helped the United States military in Afghanistan had to flee without their families, their immediate family members, their wives, their husbands and their children, and they are now barred from being reunited," Larsen said.

This includes one family where the father, Abdul, came here in 2021 at the start of the OAW resettlement. Most of his family has now been able to join him, with some of his daughters set to attend school for the first time.

"We look forward to them starting school and their education and forging their path in a new country," Larsen said.

The eldest son of the family is still overseas, after his visa was put under administrative processing.

"Right now, if you’re an Afghan male over the age of 14 or 15, they instantly put you into administrative processing," said Larsen. "This has been happening the last five months, since the new administration has taken office. Right now, he will be barred from coming in the next four years, even when, and I believe it’s a when his visa is approved, he will no longer be able to join his family."

The Trump administration says the travel ban is meant to protect national security as part of a new wave of immigration enforcement. Larsen, however, said that rhetoric is flawed.

"What I believe this will do is harm our national security," Larsen said. "We went into Afghanistan over 20 years ago. We asked people to help us in the fight against terrorism, and we made promises."

Larsen says special immigrant visas that may be allowed are a separate process, forcing individuals to start over.