Immigrant advocates say Trump travel ban adds to uncertainty for Milwaukee families

Yahoo

a day ago

Local and national immigrant advocates expressed concern and uncertainty about President Donald Trump's newly instituted ban on travel to the U.S. from 19 countries and how it could impact Milwaukee-area families waiting to reunite with relatives abroad.
The ban is a new take on the so-called "Muslim travel ban" from Trump's first administration, a prominent policy that faced legal challenges and went through several iterations before it was upheld by the Supreme Court. Former President Joe Biden tossed it out when he took office. Set to take effect Monday, the order bars travel from 12 countries and enacts partial restrictions on seven other countries.
This time, some, but not all, have Muslim-majority populations. And there are some exceptions for certain people, such as people who are legal U.S. residents; Iranians from persecuted ethnic or religious minorities; and people with immediate American family members who have applied for visas connected to their relatives.
Milwaukee is a hub for immigrants, refugees and students from a number of the countries included in the ban, including Myanmar, Laos, Afghanistan and Iran.
The order will likely delay reunions between local residents and relatives abroad who were trying to join their families in the U.S., said Sheila Badwan, executive director of the Hanan Refugees Relief Group, a refugee resettlement agency.
Badwan thought of single Afghan mothers in Milwaukee who have been waiting for their husbands to join them, and former Afghan soldiers who have been separated from their wives and children since the Taliban took over. While the order has an exception for Afghans who worked with U.S. forces and are Special Immigrant Visa holders, many others trying to join family do not have those SIVs in hand.
The federal refugee resettlement program has been halted since Jan. 20, Trump's first day in office. An executive order said the stoppage was supposed to be reviewed within 90 days, but no review has been produced, the program has not restarted, and tens of thousands of people approved to resettle before the executive order have not arrived. The new travel ban means people can expect even more delays, Badwan said.
"Emotions are high right now," Badwan said. "It's definitely devastating."
In a proclamation signed June 4, Trump cited "national security risks" posed by citizens of the targeted nations as a reason for the new ban.
"Nationals of some countries also pose significant risks of overstaying their visas in the United States, which increases burdens on immigration and law enforcement components of the United States, and often exacerbates other risks related to national security and public safety," Trump wrote in a proclamation.
Mark Hetfield, president of national refugee resettlement group HIAS, originally the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, said the Trump administration's method of choosing the countries based on their rate of how many people overstay temporary visas "makes absolutely no sense" and likely will be challenged in court.
"The rationale is irrational," he said. "They're having blanket bans on immigrant visas based on nonimmigrant overstays."
One country with a total ban is Myanmar, or Burma. Milwaukee is believed to be home to one of the largest populations of Burmese refugees in the U.S., including several persecuted ethnic minorities, including the Rohingya, who are Muslim, as well as the Chin, Karen and Karenni, who may practice Christianity, Buddhism or folk religions.
Wisconsin also has the third-largest Hmong population in the country. Many of the first Hmong refugees to the state fled Laos after helping the American military during the Vietnam War.
Lo Neng Kiatoukaysy, executive director at the Hmong American Friendship Association, said the travel ban would make it more difficult to visit family and limit opportunities for cultural exchange and education.
'Our great grandma and grandpa, they were in the same shoes as many of the immigrants here today,' he said. 'And what if this happened when they came to America back then? They would not want to have the same fear, the same intense feeling, this isolation that we're experiencing right now.'
International students, a particular target of the Trump administration in recent months, could also be affected by the travel ban. Iranians made up the fourth-largest international student contingent at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in fall 2024, according to university data, with 61 students. At UW-Madison, there were 57 Iranian students last semester.
More: ICE orders Milwaukee teacher's aide Yessenia Ruano to leave US, fly to El Salvador in days
People who have valid visas should not be affected by the ban, the National Iranian American Council said in an informational document. But the organization urged caution for people who haven't yet arrived in the U.S.
"Some number of Iranian nationals have continued to receive visas in the opening months of 2025 and may not yet have entered the United States. While the order states these visas should be valid, experience tells us that this does not guarantee there will not be complications attempting to enter the U.S. – particularly amid the rollout of this order," the council said.
UW-Madison's International Student Services said it is reviewing the details of the travel ban. In a statement, they advised those from affected countries to 'seriously reconsider any travel plans outside of the U.S.'
Beyond affecting travel to and from the U.S., the ban tells Muslim families that "their faith makes them suspect," and it fuels fear in Muslim-American communities, said Fauzia Qureshi, executive director of the Wisconsin Muslim Civic Alliance.
"A reinstatement of the travel ban sends a chilling message," she said, adding: "Policies like this make people feel alienated from the very country they contribute to."
Hetfield, president of HIAS, said the Trump administration changed its strategy this time by adding other countries — including some in Latin America, Africa and southeast Asia — as courts ruled it was not legal to ban Muslims specifically.
"They dressed it up, they put lipstick on it," he said, but ultimately, "it's a way to prevent brown people from coming to this country."
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Trump travel ban adds to uncertainty for Milwaukee immigrant families