Trump travel ban felt in Las Vegas Eritrean community
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — The Trump administration's travel ban against 12 countries hit close to home for the Las Vegas Eritrean community, which is facing new obstacles to connect with their family.
During a memorial for a minister, around 50 neighbors gathered at the Eritrean Cultural & Civic Center to enjoy freshly baked coffee and traditional himbasha. The gathering was interrupted by news their home country was included in the new U.S. travel ban.
'Unfortunately, it's not good, because our community just serves our Eritrean community here in Las Vegas,' Binyam Semereab, a member at the Eritrean Cultural & Civic Center, said. 'People who are born here, and then some of them are being here, and then they have a cultural change at the same time with language barriers, and we try to help them.'
Semereab thought of the impact it would have on his parents and younger families in Las Vegas—reducing their access to see each other.
'It's very difficult seeing it because I don't have right now my parents who want to come to visit me because of my age,' he said. 'But just there are a lot of younger people who wants to see their parents come and visit them. So that's an unfortunate situation.'
The Las Vegas Eritrean community has been recognized at the city, state, and national levels, according to Semereab.
'I want the American people to know about is just an Eritrea is just about five to 6 million people, and we fight for 30 years plus for our independence,' he said. 'And we are very peaceful people. Just we want to get our independence. Definitely, we don't interfere in somebody's internal affairs. And definitely our policy also self-reliance and then not interfering any other political issues on the other countries.'
The new travel restrictions come after security concerns raised by the Trump administration following antisemitic attacks across the country. No direct explanation was given as to why Eritrea was connected to the ban during Trump's address. However, the president did cite an overall concern with countries without reliable migration vetting and screening processes.
'Very simply we cannot have open migration from any country where we cannot safely and reliably vet and screen those who seek to enter the United States,' Trump said.
Banned from US travel
Afghanistan
Chad
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
Haiti
Iran
Libya
Myanmar
Republic of the Congo
Somalia
Sudan
Yemen
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