The local chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and immigrant rights groups rallied in front of San Diego International Airport on Tuesday to protest the latest Trump administration travel ban.
"This is a discriminatory, racist ban against Muslims and African countries," CAIR-SD Executive Director Tazheen Nizam said.
The ban went into effect Monday and applies to 12 countries: Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
It also imposes heightened restrictions on travelers from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.
Immigration attorney Ian Seruelo said the ban will result in a lot of suffering.
"This administration has been putting a lot of barriers for people of color to be able to move to the U.S. permanently or even getting nonimmigrant visas," he said. "So this travel ban adds another layer of that barrier to the issue, to the problem."
The ban means thousands of Afghans who are awaiting U.S. resettlement were effectively barred from entering the country.
Muntaz Momand has been trying to bring his family and fiancée from Afghanistan to the United States for several years. He's frustrated because he’s met with roadblock after roadblock.
“It took a little longer than it was," he said. "So the first one was the travel ban (during Trump's first term). And then there was CARE (Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts) Team, the team got canceled by executive order.”
Momand said Trump's executive order is an abuse of power.
"They’re systematically like attacking the refugees, vulnerable people. And I am one of them," Momand said. "Even though I have citizenship ... for this government, my citizenship doesn’t mean anything.”
When President Donald Trump announced the ban, he said it was a way to protect the United States.
"The strength of the restrictions we're applying depends on the severity of the threat posed," Trump said. "The list is subject to revision based on whether material improvements are made. And likewise new countries can be added as threats emerge around the world."
The people at the rally say the travel ban isn’t about safety, but rather it’s a racist policy meant to attack and punish immigrants.
“It is racist because it only includes Muslims and black Africans and brown people from South America," said Imam Taha Hassane from the Islamic Center of San Diego. "And it is un-American because it goes against the principles and the values and the foundations of the United States of America.”
Hassane and the rest of the rally attendees called on local congressional delegates to pass the National Origin-Based Antidiscrimination for Nonimmigrants (NO BAN) Act, which limits the president's power to enact travel bans.
