ADVOCATES SLAM ANNOUNCEMENT OF NEW TRAVEL BAN, CALL FOR INCREASE IN STATE-FUNDED LEGAL SERVICES

Late yesterday, the Trump Administration issued entry bans and restrictions on nationals from Muslim-majority, African, Asian, and Caribbean countries

NEWARK, NJ [June 5, 2025] - The New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice slams President Donald Trump’s latest executive proclamation imposing entry bans and restrictions on 19 Muslim-majority, African, Asian, and Caribbean nations. The ban is poised to take effect at 12:01 a.m. on Monday, June 9th.

“This order not only affects travelers visiting the United States, but it hurts immigrant communities here in New Jersey by perpetuating the idea that those hoping to reunite with loved ones are perpetual foreigners in their chosen home,” said Amy Torres with New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice. “In 2017, the nation’s airports were flooded as volunteers, organizers, and attorneys showed up to support travelers and defy the original ‘Muslim Ban.’ That movement led to the fight that then created New Jersey’s Deportation and Detention Defense Initiative the following year. The time for silent complicity is over, we need every elected leader at the State and local level to put their words into action and stand up in defense of immigrants.” 

Many, but not all of the countries listed, were part of the Trump Administration’s first travel ban in 2017. The new Executive Order issues travel bans on nationals from Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. The order also includes heightened travel restrictions for nationals from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.

"As a community center rooted in the immigrant experience, we at the Palestinian American Community Center strongly condemn the newly issued travel ban targeting Muslim-majority nations. We work with families who have already endured the trauma of forced migration, war, and Islamophobia. Policies like this do not promote order or safety—they deepen fear, destabilize families, and reinforce harmful stereotypes. We stand in unwavering solidarity with all those impacted and call for the immediate reversal of this discriminatory measure,” said Rania Mustafa, NJAIJ’s Executive Committee Chair and Executive Director with Palestinian American Community Center.

"Our faith teaches compassion, justice, and the sanctity of family—this new travel ban violates all three. The announcement comes the day before Eid, a holy time for our communities,” said Mousa Naji with the Council for American Islamic Relations (CAIR) New Jersey. “It is a direct attack on our communities and criminalizes people for seeking connection and refuge and erases the dignity of Muslim communities who are integral to this nation’s fabric."

In his announcement of the order, President Trump tied the impetus of the ban to an unrelated attack in Colorado that allegedly involved a suspect from Egypt – a country that is not on the ban list at all. Immigration advocates know that Donald Trump regularly campaigned on not only reinstating the “Muslim Ban” of 2017 but drastically expanding it to include additional countries across Asia and the Caribbean.

"For many Southeast Asian families in our community, this policy deepens the trauma of displacement and family separation that spans generations,” said Aiden Catellanos-Pedroza with Vietlead. “Instead of providing stability, it threatens to tear apart families that have rebuilt their lives here through decades of hard work and sacrifice, but maintain ties with loved ones at home."

"A fundamental principle of our democracy is that every individual has a right to be judged on their own merits, and not on what they look like or where they come from. This travel ban will join other harshly judged missteps in American history, like the Chinese Exclusion Act and Japanese American incarceration during World War II, that have violated this core value. As Asian Americans, we commit to standing with other affected communities against these un-American measures, and call on all of our leaders at every level in New Jersey to do the same,” said Amber Reed with Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders of New Jersey (AAPINJ). 

Like his first travel ban, President Trump’s order relies on the premise that Muslim-majority nations are inherently linked to terrorism and threat. However, yesterday’s announcement goes much further to also target Haiti, the Republic of the Congo, Myanmar, and Laos, places where Islam is a minority religion but whom the Administration had also previously attacked as being inherently criminal or part of “s___-hole countries.” Yesterday’s announcement closely follows the news that the Administration would be revoking the student visas of Chinese nationals.

“The false pretense of ‘protecting America’ cannot conceal the Trump Administration’s cruel decision to institutionalize racist immigration policies. Immigrant communities, particularly from Muslim-majority, Caribbean, and African nations, will once again suffer and continue to be scapegoated for the lies perpetuated by this Administration. Community organizers and elected leaders must remain steadfast and continue to resist these unjust policies and come to the defense of those targeted by them, especially for African and Caribbean immigrants who call this state home,” said Serges Demefack with American Friends Services Committee.

In response, NJAIJ and its members call upon the state legislature to deeply invest in immigrant legal services, especially the Deportation and Detention Defense Initiative. As of last year, DDDI providers were only able to meet 40% of statewide need with the flat cap the state has imposed on the program since its inception in 2018. But community need has exploded over the past few months given the reopening of Delaney Hall, an ICE detention center with capacity for 1,200 beds, and additional anti-immigrant measures from the White House. With new restrictions and orders like yesterday’s ban or last week’s rescission of humanitarian parole under the Biden-era Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, Venezuela (CHNV) parole program, an expansion of public-funded legal services to defend immigrants is more urgent than ever before.

NJAIJ remains committed to our fight to empower and protect immigrants. For information about your rights or recent explainers on federal policy, please visit www.njaij.org/kyr.

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New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice (NJAIJ) is the state’s largest immigration coalition. Together with 60+ faith, labor, and community organizations, NJAIJ fights for policies that empower and protect immigrants.