Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Green Bay. PC: Fox 11 Online
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — President Donald Trump’s travel ban impacting a dozen countries went into effect Monday.
It targets people in mostly African and Middle Eastern nations, including Afghanistan and Somalia, but is impacting people right here in Northeast Wisconsin.
Local refugees and resettlement organizations are speaking out about the affects of the travel ban.
“Right now, it is a big problem for us,” Afghan refugee Ajmal said.
Ajmal is from Afghanistan, but has been living in Green Bay since 2021 through the Catholic Charities Refugee Resettlement program. He was one of the many troops fighting against the Taliban that came to the United States when troops were ordered to withdraw from Afghanistan.
Ultimately, he had to leave his family behind.
“My family is not in good situation over there. I don’t know when they come and the process is too late,” Ajmal said.
Ajmal said it’s been four years since he’s seen his wife and kids. They’ve been trying to get visas to reunite with Ajmal in the U.S., but have been unsuccessful — and it’s too dangerous for Ajmal to return home.
Now, with Trump’s travel ban put in place, the dream of bringing his family here is becoming even more challenging, and will likely take much longer.
“Right now, I don’t know what should I do and after that, when the process takes up time, you know? How long it takes up time and I hope they solve that,” Ajmal said.
This is a problem not only for Ajmal, but many other refugees Catholic Charities works with.
“They ask us a lot of times, ‘When will my family arrive here in the United States?’ and any immigration process can take years,” Immigration Legal Services Catholic Charities Manager Laurie Martinez said.
Martinez said it’s their goal to try and help these refugee families through this time and be there to try and answer questions.
When Trump signed the travel ban proclamation last week, he said it’s in an effort to protect the U.S.
“The strength of the restrictions we’re applying depends on the severity of the threat posed. The list is subject to revision based on whether material improvements are made,” Trump said.
The ban does not revoke existing visas, but unless applicants qualify for narrow exemptions, new visa requests will be now be denied.
“What has already been a very long wait for them to see their brothers and sisters and other family members now becomes an even longer wait that we’re not really even sure when the end date will be,” World Relief Wisconsin Regional Director Gail Cornelius said.
Like Catholic Charities, World Relief in Appleton and Oshkosh serves refugees — many of which are from countries on the banned list, like Somalia and Afghanistan — meaning seeing family any time soon is unlikely.
Cornelius said she hates to see it become even harder for refugees to reconnect with their families.
“To walk alongside them and then have them have all of these barriers and hurdles, it’s really painful,” Cornelius said.
As uncertainty and worry hangs over the refugees’ heads, the only thing to do is wait.
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