President Donald Trump’s order banning citizens from 12 countries from entering the United States has come into effect, sparking protests in Los Angeles. The travel ban, announced last week, aims to prevent the importation of “terrorists” and applies to citizens of Afghanistan, Chad, Eritrea, Equatorial Guinea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Myanmar, the Republic of the Congo, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen. Heightened restrictions were also placed on people from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela.
Trump stated that the countries subjected to the most severe restrictions were determined to harbor a “large-scale presence of terrorists,” fail to cooperate on visa security, and have an inability to verify travelers’ identities. These countries were also inadequate in keeping records of criminal histories and had high rates of visa overstays in the US. The new ban does not revoke visas previously issued to people from countries on the list.
The ban has sparked widespread criticism, with Volker Turk, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, warning that “the broad and sweeping nature of the new travel ban raises concerns from the perspective of international law.” Protests erupted in Los Angeles, where thousands of people flooded the streets, blocking a major freeway and setting fire to cars. Law enforcement responded with tear gas, rubber bullets, and flashbangs.
In a related development, Trump deployed 2,000 members of the National Guard to Los Angeles County to quell the protests, bypassing the authority of California Governor Gavin Newsom. Newsom has formally requested that the Trump administration rescind the order deploying National Guard troops to the city. The order is believed to be the first time in 60 years that a president has deployed a state’s National Guard without the governor’s consent.
Meanwhile, the situation in Los Angeles remains tense, with authorities declaring downtown Los Angeles an “unlawful assembly” zone and ordering the area cleared. The Trump administration has defended its actions, labeling the protests an “insurrection” and “migrant invasion.”