Bay Area immigrant communities criticize Trump's latest travel ban: 'Racism and xenophobia'

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Friday, June 6, 2025 1:00AM
Bay Area immigrant communities criticize Trump's latest travel ban
Bay Area residents in the Sudanese and Yemeni communities reacted to President Donald Trump's latest travel ban.

HAYWARD, Calif. (KGO) -- A sweeping new travel ban on citizens from a dozen nations was announced by the White House on Wednesday.

The move revives an effort from the first Trump administration to crack down on entries from specific countries.

The 12 countries targeted include Iran, Afghanistan, Libya, Myanmar and Sudan. Seven more countries face partial restrictions.

We got reaction from Bay Area residents in the Sudanese and Yemeni communities.

"We thought the improved relationship with the Sudanese government, in his term, this would make him reconsider having Sudan," said Harith Elrufaie, president of the Sudanese Association for Northern California, which is based in Hayward.

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The organization has been helping families who have loved ones stuck in immigration red tape. And now, they're possibly locked out due to the travel ban.

"Many will not be able to see their parents who fled the war, even though their paperwork has been there for many months. I have a couple of friends show they have been trying to get their spouses out and reunite families for the past one or two years," Elrufaie said.

The proclamation cites national security threats and inefficient screening processes from the 19 countries that made the list. Sudan is one of 12 countries facing a full travel ban, with seven other countries facing partial restrictions.

"I stated that it is the policy of the United States to protect its citizens from aliens who intend to commit terrorist attacks, threaten our national security, espouse hateful ideology, or otherwise exploit the immigration laws for malevolent purposes," Trump writes in the proclamation.

But Elrufaie thinks Sudan was an easy target: a country at civil war, which doesn't provide any economic advantage for the U.S.

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"The records of all the criminals cases here in the U.S. -- and even terrorist acts in this country -- you won't find anything that has to do with the Sudanese people," Elrufaie said. "The motivation of this administration is to have a big list, and we happen to be one of those weak countries at this point."

"There is a lot of economic anxiety in this country. But the far-right has really decided that they are going to blame immigrants as 'Public Enemy No. 1' for the problems with this country. And so, in that way, this fits in pretty well with the Trump agenda," said Professor Nolan Higdon, who teaches History and Media Studies at UC Santa Cruz.

Higdon said Trump learned from failures of his first travel ban, which faced legal challenges -- this time, going to the State Department to help craft the legislation.

"It is going to be a lot more complex. It involves a lot more countries. He actually has a supposed State Department investigation to justify it. So, the courts are going to have more to deal with here than last time," Higdon said.

Also on the list is Yemen. That is where community activist Aseel Fara's family is from.

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They are cancelling a trip to Yemen to visit his sick grandmother because of fears of getting back into the U.S., even though they are U.S. citizens.

Fara said the rhetoric around the travel ban reinforces anti-immigrant stereotypes.

"We are your business owners. We are your public servants. We are here to serve. We are here to help. We generate a lot of tax revenue," said Fara, who lives in San Francisco. "I think that's something that we are slowly trying to fight."

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a leading Muslim civil rights organization with an office in the Bay Area, categorized the new travel ban as "unnecessary, overbroad and ideologically motivated."

In a statement, it goes on to say: "This cruel policy under the guise of 'national security' will not make our country safer; instead, it fuels the dangerous anti-immigrant rhetoric that has surged across the nation by reviving a discredited idea: that entire nations -- and by extension, their people -- are security threats simply for being who they are or where they're from."

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The San Francisco-based Asian Law Caucus has referred to the travel ban as "perpetuating a pattern of targeting Black and brown immigrants. This is racism and xenophobia under the guise of a national security policy."

Caroline Marks is a staff attorney for the Civil Liberties and Community Safety Programs at the Asian Law Caucus. She calls the travel ban "disappointing" but not unexpected, based on the travel ban from Trump's first term. The civil rights organization is looking to challenge the ban.

"It is really clear, given the fact the 19 countries identified are predominately Muslim, Black and brown -- and the fact that it relies on thinly substantiated justifications -- it really speaks to the view of this administration of who can and cannot be American, and who does and does not deserve to be here as a visitor, student or otherwise," Marks said.

The ban goes into effect on Monday. It does not apply to green card holders or those already granted a visa to immigrate or travel the U.S. as of June 9, 2025.

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