Like you, we only recently received the final, signed copies of President Trump’s Executive Orders targeting Muslims and refugees. And like you, we are appalled at these attempts to erode our American values by targeting individuals based on race, religion, and national origin.
A complete analysis will take time, but we continue to hear from many of you, worried about what this means for your families and friends. Accordingly, we wanted to reach out and offer some preliminary guidance. We will send out more details as they become clear.
WHAT THE ORDER DOES:
- Ban on entry for 90 days for all immigrant and non-immigrant aliens (including green card holders) from Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen
- Suspends the refugee program for at least 120 days. This means that anyone, anywhere in the process, will not move forward.
- Indefinite ban on the admission of Syrian refugees.
- Biometric entry-exit: directs agencies to expedite the creation of an entry-exit system which will include fingerprints and photos.
- Suspends the visa waiver program. Most visa applicants will have to attend an interview.
What you should do to protect yourself:
- If you are non-citizen, even green card holders (lawful permanent residents), from one of the seven countries named above, and you are inside the U.S., plan to delay all international travel for at least 90 days. IF YOU LEAVE YOU ARE LIKELY TO BE DENIED RE-ENTRY.
- If you are a non-citizen from one of the seven countries named above, and you are outside of the U.S., you will face issues at the airport upon attempting to re-enter the US.
- We are already receiving reports of green card holders being turned away at airports, OR being delayed for 8-10 hours, handcuffed and extensively searched before being permitted to enter.
- Please keep looking for updates in the coming days to assess your travel options. If you are facing an emergency at the airport or are coming home in the coming days, please have our number on hand 614-451-3232.
- IF YOU ARE ASKED TO SIGN AN I-407 AT THE AIRPORT OR BORDER DO NOT SIGN IT, ASK FOR THE SUPERVISOR WHO HANDLES LPR ADMISSIONS. If you sign it, you will be giving up your green card.
What you can do to push back against this:
- Call your members of Congress at 202.224.3121 to ask them to speak out against anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant bigotry and oppose these Executive Orders
- Write an editorial, post, blog, and/or talk to people to keep spreading the fact that this executive order does nothing to actually make our country safer.
- DONATE now so we can provide more legal services to those affected. We have our work cut out for us and it’s going to be a long, hard road. We can’t do it without your support.