By Amy Goodman & Denis Moynihan

President Donald Trump issued an extensive travel ban on Wednesday, expanding one of the most controversial policies of his first term, the “Muslim ban.” Back then, Trump’s travel ban was challenged in court but ultimately, in 2018, its third scaled-down version was permitted by the Supreme Court. This followed a White House meeting in which Trump referred to Haiti and African countries as “shithole countries,” according to meeting participants like Illinois Democratic Senator Dick Durbin. Trump also said he would prefer more immigrants from Norway, one of the world’s wealthiest and whitest nations.

Meet the new Trump, same as the old Trump, only now surrounded by sycophants eager to enable his whims, and with an even stronger majority on the Supreme Court. Trump’s new travel ban parallels the attempted mass deportations he promised while campaigning. Despite numerous setbacks in the courts and growing public opposition, the deportation program is upending the lives of countless immigrants and their families in a chaotic spree of ICE arrests, indefinite imprisonment – in many cases in violation of court orders – and removal from the US. The White House has already sent deportees to a notorious megaprison in El Salvador, and is reportedly negotiating with other countries to form a global gulag of prisons in nations seeking Trump’s favor.

Trump’s new travel ban, which takes effect on June 9th, bars individuals from 12 countries and limits travel from seven more. Complete bans were announced for Afghanistan, Myanmar/Burma, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. It restricts travel from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.

About half these countries are in Africa, and about half are majority Muslim. All of them are populated to a vast degree by people of color. The world’s three poorest countries, per capita – Yemen, Burundi, and Afghanistan – are on the list. It’s worth noting that at a 2024 campaign event, Trump mused, “Why can’t we allow people to come in from nice countries…Do we have any people coming in from Denmark? How about Switzerland? How about Norway?”

The ban immediately drew criticism from human rights advocates, and constitutional lawyers and others. Baher Azmy, legal director for the Center for Constitutional Rights, told the Democracy Now! news hour,

“It’s significant on its own, but more so in a continuum with a series showcasing, almost day by day or week by week, some new immigration policy that effectuates their sort of evangelical, white supremacist fantasy about this country.”

Trump promised to seek out rapists and murderers to deport. But, in reality, as plainly stated by his Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, considered the architect of the mass deportation policy, it’s really about the numbers, and hardworking immigrants who obey the law will be targeted as well.

The conservative Washington Examiner reported that Miller summoned the heads of 25 ICE and Homeland Security field offices to DC to excoriate them on low deportation numbers. Quoting an anonymous source, the Examiner reported,

“Stephen Miller wants everybody arrested. ‘Why aren’t you at Home Depot? Why aren’t you at 7-Eleven?’” the official recited.”

Miller told Fox News,

“Under President Trump’s leadership, we are looking to set a goal of a minimum of 3,000 arrests for ICE every day, and President Trump is going to keep pushing to get that number up higher each and every single day.”

On the ground, the Trump/Miller deportation spree is tearing apart families, while at the same time, provoking increasing resistance.

“This cannot continue to be how we, as a country, are treating people who are here in search of safety and protection, who are our neighbors, our friends, our church families,” said Guerline Jozef, executive director of Haitian Bridge Alliance, on Democracy Now! “We are literally destroying lives instead of giving them the opportunity to continue to live their lives here with dignity and compassion.”

On May 30th, 20 armed, masked ICE agents in tactical gear raided a popular San Diego Italian restaurant. The agents handcuffed the entire staff and ultimately arrested four workers. When bystanders attempted to block ICE vehicles from leaving the scene, ICE agents threw flash-bang smoke grenades at the outraged crowd.

Adriana Jasso, an immigration and human rights advocate based in San Diego, has been organizing and educating immigrant communities about their rights and how to protect themselves against ICE raids.

“We understand and have adhered to our historical responsibility to fight back, to resist and to denounce and take the moral imperative,” Jasso told Democracy Now! “This also could be an opportunity for the movement to gain the strength to stand up and face a fascistic, harmful government that has done away with the fundamental human rights and constitutional rights that we as communities deserve.”