Pushback against Trump administration's new travel ban begins
A redo of President Donald Trump's travel ban still is causing unease for some suburban Muslims and troubling local refugee advocates.
The president issued a new executive order Monday that temporarily prevents the entry of refugees and citizens from six Muslim-majority countries into the U.S., saying his administration needs time to evaluate screening procedures.
Trump said the action is essential to protect Americans from terrorism, but critics including Illinois' two senators are already calling it a Muslim ban.
Islamic Center of Naperville President Shoaib Khadri said the revamped edict is still troubling.
"It looks like the purpose was more to overcome the legal challenges as opposed to minimizing the inconvenience to people," Khadri said. "A lot of the ban is on predominantly Muslim countries."
The president canceled his original executive order but kept provisions halting refugee admissions and the entry of people from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen into the U.S. The first order, which also included Iraq, was frozen after a court challenge. More lawsuits are expected, American Civil Liberties Union spokesman Ed Yonka said.
The second version allows Iraqis into the U.S. and goes into effect March 16. Officials said the slower rollout should reduce some of the chaos at airports, including O'Hare International, where numerous people were held and questioned by Customs and Border Protection officers.
"No one wants to compromise the security of the country," Khadri said. But he added that he is concerned there are no clear guidelines for Customs and Border Protection officers.
"Ever since the ban, we've seen people from other countries being harassed or visas rejected upon arrival. With that bad experience, people are worried," Khadri said.
As a result, many in the Muslim community are changing travel plans, he explained.
Hundreds protested the travel restrictions at O'Hare in January, but the scene was quiet Monday afternoon.
A revolving team of volunteer attorneys have offered free legal aid to travelers at O'Hare's International Terminal since the restrictions surfaced.
Attorney John Francis thinks the "new order seems substantially similar to the original one," and that's why the volunteers will continue their efforts.
"One thing we've noticed is people are being detained for a longer period of time than it seems like they were prior to even the first ban. It's tough to know what to make of that," Francis said.
Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly promised in a statement the move would "make America safer, and address long-overdue concerns about the security of our immigration system."
"We must undertake a rigorous review of our visa and refugee vetting programs," he said. "We cannot risk the prospect of malevolent actors using our immigration system to take American lives."
Trump is halving the number of refugees accepted into the country from 110,000 to 50,000, which is "disappointing," World Relief DuPage/Aurora Executive Director Susan Sperry said. "This is the worst refugee crisis since World War II, and no president ... since the signing of the Refugee Act has authorized this low of a number."
The president said the travel restrictions would not affect permanent residents. There were numerous complaints of green-card holders being detained immediately after the Jan. 27 travel ban began.
Those included South suburbanite Abdul Salam Mused, 67, a permanent resident who said he was held for eight hours and unable to access needed medication on Jan. 28 at O'Hare after returning from his son's wedding in Saudi Arabia.
Mused fled war in Yemen and came to the U.S. in 1994. One son who was married in January is in the U.S. Navy, and his other son, Nasser Mused, said his father had "never expected this to happen. We love this country. He came to the United States to have a better life and raise a family."
Marni Pyke/mpyke@dailyherald.com