'It doesn't help Hoosiers': People gather outside of Indy airport to protest new travel ban

Yahoo

5 hours ago

More than 100 people gathered outside the Indianapolis International Airport terminal on June 9 to protest President Donald Trump's new travel ban, which bars citizens from 12 countries.
The ban went into effect on June 9 and bars nationals of Afghanistan, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Myanmar, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen from entering the United States.
The administration also placed partial restrictions on foreign nationals traveling from seven additional countries: Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela.
Many of those who spoke at the protest on the green space outdoors near the baggage claim area argued that immigrants who have relocated to Indiana have been a positive addition to the state, adding that this ban punishes them while serving no additional purpose.
"This ban does not make us safer," said Maliha Zafar, director of the Indiana Muslim Advocacy Network, speaking at the protest. "It doesn't help Hoosiers. It keeps families apart, reinforces, dangerous message that immigrants, refugees, Muslims, black and brown people do not belong. But we do belong."
The event was organized by Exodus Refugee, ACLU of Indiana and the Indiana Muslim Advocacy Network.
Dozens of people gathered on the airport's lawn holding "no unjust travel bans" signs, affirming that migrants were welcome in Indiana.
"I'm deeply concerned with all of the many actions that have been aimed against immigrants in this country," said one protester Mary Anne Rugger. "If this were happening over a hundred years ago, it would have been my great-grandparents who were being attacked. This country is great because we welcome immigrants." Organizers of the protest said that whether or not these bans ultimately affect immigrants living in Indiana, these types of policies inadvertently create a feeling of fear amongst those who have moved here from other countries.
Speakers argued that people ought to be able to live in this country regardless of their legal status without fearing that they may be deported for getting a driving citation or overstaying a visa.
"It's been roughly five months since Trump took office and in that time, he's brought about a theater campaign of disappearance, deportations, dehumanization, unlike anything most of us have seen in America," said Cole Varga, CEO of Exodus Refugee.
Many of the refugees in Indiana have come here to escape dangerous situations in their home countries, Varga said.
But beyond the travel ban, Chris Daley, Executive Director of the ACLU of Indiana, emphasized the need for leaders and Hossiers to move away from anti-immigrant rhetoric and stop vilifying those from other countries.
"Every year in our Indiana State House, we see a flurry of bills that try to limit people's ability to own land, to run businesses, to have state contracts simply based on their nation of origin," Daley said.
"We have to stand up and say enough, this is not who we are and this is not who we're going to be going forward."
Supporters of the travel bans say these policies are not aimed at those who have entered the country legal and will serve to keep U.S. citizens safe.
'President Trump is fulfilling his promise to protect Americans from dangerous foreign actors that want to come to our country and cause us harm,' White House deputy press secretary Abigail Jackson wrote on X on June 4.
Ultimately, organizers believed that this "president's immigration polices are moral catastrophes."
Contact IndyStar reporter Noe Padilla at [e-mail], follow him on X @1NoePadilla or on Bluesky @noepadilla.bsky.social.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Protestors gather outside of Indy airport in disapproval of travel ban