Visitors report extra scrutiny at airports as Trump’s new travel ban begins

President Donald Trump’s new ban on travel to the U.S. by citizens from a dozen countries took effect Monday with relative calm, as some travelers with valid visas reported extra scrutiny at American airports before being allowed entry.

The ban targeting mainly African and Middle Eastern countries kicked in amid rising tension over the president’s escalating campaign of immigration enforcement. But it arrived with no immediate signs of the chaos that unfolded at airports across the U.S. during Trump’s first travel ban in 2017.

Vincenta Aguilar said she was anxious yesterday [Macau time] as she and her husband, both Guatemalan citizens, were subjected to three different interviews by U.S. officials after arriving at Miami International Airport and showing tourist visas the couple received last week.

“They asked us where we work, how many children we have, if we have had any problems with the law, how we are going to afford the cost of this travel, how many days we will stay here,” said Aguilar, who along with her husband was visiting their son for the first time since he left Guatemala 22 years ago.

She said they were released about an hour after their flight landed, greeting their waiting family members in Florida with tears of relief. Guatemala is not among the countries included in the new ban or flagged for extra travel restrictions.

The new proclamation that Trump signed last week applies to citizens of Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. It also imposes heightened restrictions on people from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela who are outside the U.S. and don’t hold a valid visa.

The new ban does not revoke visas previously issued to people from countries on the list, according to guidance issued Friday to all U.S. diplomatic missions. However, unless an applicant meets narrow criteria for an exemption to the ban, his or her application will be rejected starting Monday. Travelers with previously issued visas should still be able to enter the U.S. even after the ban takes effect.

Narayana Lamy, a Haitian citizen who works for his home country’s government, said he was told to wait after showing his passport and tourist visa Monday at the Miami airport while a U.S. official confirmed by phone that he was allowed into the country to visit family members.

Luis Hernandez, a Cuban citizen and green card holder who has lived in the U.S. for three years, said he had no problems returning Monday to Miami after a weekend visiting family in Cuba.

“They did not ask me anything,” Hernandez said. “I only showed my residency card.”

During Trump’s first term, a hastily written executive order ordering the denial of entry to citizens of mainly Muslim countries created chaos at numerous airports and other ports of entry, prompting successful legal challenges and major revisions to the policy.

Many immigration experts say the new ban is more carefully crafted and appears designed to beat court challenges that hampered the first by focusing on the visa application process.

Trump said this time that some countries had “deficient” screening for passports and other public documents or have historically refused to take back their own citizens. He relied extensively on an annual Homeland Security report of people who remain in the U.S. after their visas expired.

Trump also tied the new ban to a terrorist attack in Boulder, Colorado, saying it underscored the dangers posed by some visitors who overstay visas. U.S. officials say the man charged in the attack overstayed a tourist visa. He is from Egypt, which isn’t on Trump’s restricted list.

The ban was quickly denounced by groups that provide aid and resettlement help to refugees.

“This policy is not about national security — it is about sowing division and vilifying communities that are seeking safety and opportunity in the United States,” said Abby Maxman, president of Oxfam America, a nonprofit international relief organization.

Haiti’s transitional presidential council said in a statement that the ban “is likely to indiscriminately affect all Haitians” and that it hopes to persuade the U.S. to drop Haiti from the list of banned countries.

In Venezuela, some visa holders changed U.S. travel plans last week to get ahead of Trump’s restrictions. For those without visas, the new restrictions may not matter much. Since Venezuela and the U.S. severed diplomatic relations in 2019, Venezuelans have had to travel to neighboring South American countries to obtain U.S. visas.

José Luis Vegas, a tech worker in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas, said his uncle gave up on renewing an expired U.S. visa because it was already difficult before the restrictions.

“Paying for hotels and tickets was very expensive, and appointments took up to a year,” Vegas said. GISELA SALOMON, MIAMI, MDT/AP