East Orange councilman Berg Leneus is the son of Haitian immigrants. President Donald Trump’s travel ban — reportedly imposed for security reasons on nationals from Haiti and eleven other nations starting on June 9 — shocked his close-knit community and immigrant families across New Jersey, Leneus said.
“It’s cruel, it’s unjust, it is extremely problematic, you know, because of what’s going on in this world,” Leneus said. “You know, a lot of these countries, they’re destabilized, they are militarized. ”
Haiti has been under a state of emergency since March 2024. The U.S. Department of State issued a Level 4 “Do Not Travel” advisory, citing, “kidnapping, crime, civil unrest and limited health care.” The new Trump travel ban states, “Haiti lacks a central authority with … law enforcement information necessary to ensure its nationals do not undermine the national security of the United States.”
That’s in line with Trump’s overall concern: “…the extreme dangers posed to our country by the entry of foreign nationals who are not properly vetted, as well as those who come here as temporary visitors and overstay their visas. We don’t want ‘em!” Trump said in a video that accompanied the executive order announcing the new ban.
Selaedin Maksut, executive director of New Jersey’s Council on American-Islamic Relations, recalled how the first Trump administration sparked a firestorm of airport protests and court cases with its so-called “Muslim travel ban.” This latest action is wider in scope than the one eight years ago.
“We still see the very xenophobic, anti-Muslim kind of bent to this ban, and that, of course, obviously, is the bias that we’re calling out,” Maksut said. “And largely we believe that it is unnecessary and unproductive. What America really needs now is an improved immigration system, right?”
The new ban exempts some Afghan nationals who cooperated with the U.S. government — like Arif Sarwary, who is now safely in Toms River. But he wants to bring his mom to the U.S.
“I can’t go back to my country. I can’t meet her over there, and she can’t come over here ,” Sarwary said. “If something happens to her — if I can never meet her again — it will break my heart.”
The travel ban is designed to skirt legal obstacles that hampered Trump’s first efforts. It’s also expanded to bar nations with immigrants who frequently overstay visas, after agents discovered the suspect in the recent Boulder, Colorado terror attack, held a lapsed tourist visa. He’s Egyptian — but Egypt ironically isn’t on the travel ban list. CAIR’s advising its community to avoid traveling outside the US, for now.
The ban also includes seven nations with partial travel restrictions. Lawsuits are expected, but legal scholars are asking, would foreign nationals living abroad have a Constitutional right to due process?
“I think it’s gonna present a lot of challenges,” says Rutgers Law Professor Ron Chen. “Combined with the fact that the most likely people affected really wouldn’t have standing to bring a lawsuit because they’re not present in the United States. ”
“For America to essentially close its doors at a time when these countries that need it the most — you need that helping hand the most — it’s particularly cruel,” Leneus said.
