Trump has included Venezuela, North Korea, and Chad to his travel ban, an action that caused the cancelation for the hearing on the accused unconstitutional travel ban put in place in February, according to CNN.
The new travel ban was released on Sept. 24 and will take effect on Oct. 18, CCN reports. The countries already included are Syria, Yemen, Libya, Somalia, and Iran.
Esther Xavier, a junior in exercise and sports science from Malaysia, said she doesn’t agree with the former or new travel bans and thinks “the government is punishing people.” She said Trump is not allowed to discriminate against religion, “but he is, and by that he’s contradicting American law.”
According to ABC News, the House Senate had a hearing for the travel ban on Oct. 10 because of its restrictions to Muslim-dominant countries, which was under prosecution of being unconstitutional. Because North Korea and Venezuela are not Muslim countries, the house meeting was canceled just 15 days before the hearing.
Trump tweeted after the release of the restrictions, “Making America safe is my number one priority. We will not admit those into our country we cannot safely vet.”
Xavier said the new ban’s purpose of adding new countries is unclear because North Koreans can’t leave their country, Chad had no apparent reason to be banned, and it could harm Venezuela even more because of its food shortage.
Venezuela
Dani Castro, a sophomore studying biomedicine from Texas, said his mom is an immigrant from Venezuela and thinks the ban is “a really good idea because Maduro, the president, isn't taking care of the people. He keeps the rich, rich and the poor, poor. They don't have basic needs or a lot things that we use every day like hygienic goods and food.”
Castro said he thinks the travel ban will push Maduro out of power. He explained presidents only allowed to run for one term, but the last president, Hugo Chavez, changed it so he could run for as long as he wanted. According to the CIA World Factbook, Chavez was president for 14 years and Maduro has been president for four.
Castro added, “The ban may not effect [Maduro] too much because he's already very anti-American, but in a way we're taking a stance and starting to force change.”
Gerardo Sanchez, a Venezuelan refugee currently living in Mexico, said in an interview on Facebook Messenger, “There is no law.” He explained Venezuela has become a very dangerous destination and thinks Trump’s obligation is to protect Americans.
For many years now, the Mormon church does not send North American missionaries to Venezuela or allow them to be temple presidents there, said Sanchez. Sanchez said this causes isolation even more from the rest of the free world, and he thinks it is becoming more and more into another Cuba.
North Korea
According to the White House website, Trump’s executive order states, “North Korea does not cooperate with the United States Government in any respect and fails to satisfy all information-sharing requirements.”
Echo Chen, a junior from China majoring in hospitality and tourism management, said it’s sad these people aren’t allowed in the U.S. “They could be missing out. The U.S. has good opportunities.” These opportunities separate the U.S. from other countries and allow national improvement, he added.
Chad
The executive order states, “The government of Chad is an important and valuable counterterrorism partner of the United States, and the United States Government looks forward to expanding that cooperation, including in the areas of immigration and border management.
Chad has shown a clear willingness to improve in these areas, the report says. “Nonetheless, Chad does not adequately share public-safety and terrorism-related information and fails to satisfy at least one key risk criterion.”
Writer: Emmalee Smith