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Trump Administration's Travel Ban Comes Into Effect

Trump Administration's Travel Ban Comes Into Effect

There have been mixed reactions to the policy.

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie

Travellers from six mainly Muslim countries will now face tougher entry into the United States due to a revised version of President Donald Trump's travel ban coming in to force.

People who want to enter the US who are deemed not to have any 'close' family or business relationships in the country could be denied visas and barred from entering.

Under this rule, uncles, aunts, cousins and grandparents are not classed as 'bona fide' relations.

Hawaii filed an emergency court challenge to oppose the travel ban's limitations on family relations, asking a federal judge to clarify that the Trump administration would not be able to enforce the ban against fiancés, or relatives not defined by the ban guidelines.

Donald Trump travel ban
Donald Trump travel ban

Credit: PA Images

Major US airports seemed to be operating as normal, with border officials under instruction to respect previously issued visas for citizens from the countries in question: Sudan, Somalia, Iran, Yemen, Syria and Libya.

There was a dramatic contrast in the response compared to the scenes at airports when the Trump administration's first travel ban came into effect.

The initial ban in January drew in impassioned protesters and caused security chaos, due to the drastic actions of detaining and expelling travellers with valid visas.

"Alarming," "confusing" and "inhumane" were some of the words used by David Miliband, president of the International Rescue Committee, to describe the new measures.

David Miliband
David Miliband

Credit: PA Images

"The banning of grandmothers - of unaccompanied children - from America's shores is a disgrace," Miliband said. "Doubly so when America is a breaking a promise we have made to safeguard them."

Border officials were told to practise discretion when assessing whether or not family connections of travellers were 'bona fide'.

"Persons who have visas and show up at the ports of entry on a flight, on a ship, or another method will be allowed to enter the United States unless there's another reason for not being allowed in," a senior administration official told reporters. "So someone who has a visa will be allowed to be admitted. If, for some reason, there is another basis, they will not."

However, there does appear to be a degree of flexibility in the Trump Administration's new measures, although some people in the US are up in arms about the travel restrictions, which they say are unfair, cruel and discriminatory.

"This attempt at implementing the president's Muslim ban is just as illogical, discriminatory and un-American as the first two attempts," said Tammy Duckworth, a Democratic senator from Illinois, in a statement. "How can President Trump credibly say that some relatives are 'bona fide' relationships while grandparents and grandchildren are not? This disgrace will not make our country safer. It betrays the American values those of us who served in uniform fought to defend."

President Trump, on the other hand, declared the new system a victory for US security and Tweeted his excitement.

"Great day for America's future Security and Safety," he wrote on his official Twitter account. "We must keep America SAFE!"

Sources: The Telegraph, The Guardian

Featured Image Credit: PA Images

Topics: Donald Trump, politics

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