President Donald Trump issued an executive order that took effect June 9 banning residents of 12 countries from entering the United States and placing harsh visa restrictions on those from another seven, including Cuba, along with Venezuela, Burundi, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo and Turkmenistan.
The countries facing Washington’s total travel ban are Afghanistan, Chad, Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Myanmar, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
Cuba is being targeted, Trump’s proclamation says, because both his administration and that of Democrat Joseph Biden placed Cuba on their list of State Sponsors of Terrorism. This slanderous accusation is part of the U.S. rulers’ tightening decadeslong economic war against Cuba’s working people and their socialist revolution.
Cubans can no longer obtain B-1 visas for business, B-2 for tourism, F for academic studies, M for vocational studies and J for student or professional exchange.
The new travel ban does not apply to people with visas who are already in the U.S. But individuals who have not yet received their visas, even though their applications were approved, will be denied entry starting June 9. Even having a visa does not guarantee entry into the U.S. The final decision is in the hands of the immigration officials at the port of entry.
The ban blocks the issuing of immigrant visas to Cuban relatives of U.S. permanent residents. Kathleen Arias, a U.S. resident who frequently travels to Havana hoping to bring her mother to live in the U.S., told CBS News in Miami that the travel ban now prevents this. “That was my plan, but now with these new restrictions, bringing her to the U.S. is now out of the question,” she said. Other U.S. permanent residents with young children living in Cuba now face similar obstacles.
The executive order claims these travel restrictions are aimed at preventing “foreign terrorists” from entering the U.S., as well as “other national security and public safety threats.”
The Trump administration is also considering expanding travel bans to cover residents of 36 additional countries over the next couple of months, Reuters reported June 15. This includes 25 countries in Africa, in addition to the 10 there which have already had restrictions imposed on them. This list also includes Syria, Cambodia, Kyrgyzstan and several countries in the Caribbean and South Pacific.
These moves by Washington are an egregious interference with the right of working people to visit and learn about the class struggle in the U.S. and to share what they face with workers here.