Trump’s new Muslim ban poised to sweep up immigrants already in the U.S.

Upon taking office during his first term, one of Donald Trump’s opening moves was a bigoted travel ban on people from Muslim-majority countries.

This time around, Trump is preparing another ban that could go into effect in days. Advocates warned Tuesday that it will sweep up not just Muslims living abroad, but also immigrants living in the U.S. that hold what Trump deems “hostile attitudes” toward the country.

The forthcoming travel ban would become the latest of Trump’s draconian anti-immigration policies, many of which rehash the same themes about national security and public safety.

Trump issued a January 20 executive order that used the language about “hostile attitudes” to target immigrants for deportation. The phrase has been echoed in remarks from U.S. officials justifying the arrest over the weekend of the Palestinian student activist Mahmoud Khalil, said Yasmine Taeb, the legislative and political director for the Muslim advocacy group MPower Change.

“All of these policies are interconnected,” she said, “and the travel ban that is going to be coming out is going to serve as another basis for the targeting of activists advocating for Palestinian human rights.”

Targeting “Hostile” Residents

The White House has yet to formally release details of the latest travel ban, but Trump has repeatedly said he will reissue his eight-year-old policy, which was discarded by President Joe Biden when he came into office in 2021.

The new ban could add Afghanistan and Pakistan to the list of countries whose citizens were banned from entering the U.S. during Trump’s first term, which included Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen, according to a report from Reuters. Trump expanded the list to include four additional African countries in 2020.

From the start, Trump’s first travel ban faced challenges in court. This time around, the Trump administration has been trying to preempt lawsuits. In his January 20 executive order, Trump directed the Department of Homeland Security and other agencies to prepare a report on countries with “deficient” vetting information, a move intended to help the new ban withstand legal scrutiny.

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