Trump’s new travel ban gets mixed-reactions, problems linger for students and refugees

Across the Central Coast, there were mixed reactions Monday following President Donald Trump’s new executive order that bans immigration from six Muslim-majority countries and reinstates a temporary blanket ban on all refugees.

At the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, a graduate school in Monterey, the President’s new order comes as bad news. The school has hundreds of students from across the world, and of those, at least four will be directly affected, according to the school.

“We are trying to do everything we can to make sure those students have the support, whether it’s legal, logistical or administrative, to make sure they can continue their studies here,” said Jeff Dayton-Johnson, the vice president of Academic academic affairs at the school.

The ban includes Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen, but the school says other international students not from the banned countries are also feeling anxiety.

“There are students from other Muslim-majority countries who are wondering, ‘Will my home country be next?’ ‘Will I have trouble traveling home?’ Will my parents be able to come for graduation?'” said Dayton-Johnson.

Similar concerns were echoed by former U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. We caught up with him in Carmel before the start of his lecture series.

“When you assert a ban on Muslim countries, I think that creates real problems in terms of the constitution and our laws,” said Panetta.

Penatta also said he wanted the current administration to work on the existing vetting process instead of imposing a new travel ban.

“I think the ability to improve those steps would have been the better approach,” said Panetta. “I am very concerned about any kind of total ban.”

Not everyone agrees on this though, many Republican leaders have called the ban an issue of national security.

“I am actually very happy that it has been put back in place,” said Paul Bruno, with the Monterey County Republican Party. “I think it’s important for protecting our country.”

The new order replaces Trump’s original order signed in January. It was blocked by a Federal Court. The order has the same nations included, except for one — Iraq.

“I think they have a system in which they can help us vet their people,” said Bruno. “The most important part is that, with some of these countries, (they) do not know who they are sending us.”

Non-U.S. citizens with valid green cards, or current travel visas, are exempt from the ban. Expiring visas from the covered nations can be renewed, but no new ones will be issued for 90 days.

The order also suspends the U.S. refugee program for 120 days and caps the annual number of refugees at 50,000. That limit used to be 110,000.

The order takes effect on March 16.