By Amaya Dennis

According to the Associated Press, President Trump issued a proclamation that barred nationals from 19 countries from entering the United States, citing national security and terrorism reasons. Of these countries, 12 received partial entry restrictions, and the other seven were fully suspended. The proclamation went into effect on June 9, but how are civic leaders of Cleveland, the most diverse city in Ohio, responding weeks later?

What Is in the Proclamation?

The proclamation, titled “Restricting The Entry Of Foreign Nationals To Protect The United States From Foreign Terrorists And Other National Security And Public Safety Threats,” is a follow-up to Trump’s original travel ban from his previous term. The original ban was commonly referred to as the Muslim Ban, because it barred citizens of Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S. for 90 days.

This updated version is similar, with nine of the 19 restricted countries having a Muslim majority population. The premise of the ban is to prevent citizens of certain countries from entering the United States.

Cleveland Organizer Reacts

Cleveland native Benjamin Mullin-Vanneste graduated from Campus International High School and is pursuing a degree in International Studies with a focus on the Middle East and North Africa at Case Western Reserve University. He has previously organized and founded activism groups on campus, and currently organizes with the Party for Socialism and Liberation.

Having studied many of these banned countries, one thing that Ben said stuck out to him was that,

“the reason that many people from these countries might be looking to make the United States their home is directly a result of the United States’ intervention in these countries.”

The United States interfered with nearly all of these countries at one point, militarily or economically. That may play a role in the stability of the countries and the safety of their citizens. This creates a sort of catch-22, where individuals seek refuge and protection in a country that potentially contributed to some of the issues they hope to escape.

Dangerous Community Effects

Though the vast majority of Cleveland residents are not immigrants, this ban still affects the city socially, as it is racially and ethnically diverse. All countries affected by this ban are non-white countries, and they are being directly associated with terrorism through the language of the proclamation.

Ben believes this association is dangerous, for “people from these countries, and also look like they’re from these countries, and that is a huge range of people”.

With many of these countries sharing ethnic backgrounds, some may find it easy to stereotype and lump those with similar appearances together, but it does more harm to these groups than one might think. Such typecasting also affects those who are not from those ethnic backgrounds, but share the religion, or vice versa.

According to the BBC, “besides Iran, none of the 12 countries hit by the outright ban are named on the US government’s state sponsors of terrorism list.” That list names Syria, Cuba, North Korea, and Iran as sponsors of terrorism, though Iran is the only one to be subject to this ban. The other 18 countries have not been identified as terrorists by the United States government, but are defined as such in the proclamation. This also aligns with Ben’s viewpoint, as he argues that, rather than these countries being sponsors of terrorism, “all [Trump] means is these are people who are very ideologically different, and challenge American neoliberalism.”

What Can We Do?

With the shift of what countries and people are associated with terrorism by the government, Americans must remain educated and unbigoted when interacting with each other, especially community members from these targeted demographics.

The Washington Post reports that Trump announced the potential addition of 36 more countries to this list, for both partial and full suspension. It is crucial that the community remains up-to-date on future amendments to the proclamation and keeps an eye out for resources that may assist these targeted demographics.