The US President Donald Trump’s ban on seven Muslim-majority countries have set off a sense of paranoia and fear of calamity amongst millions of legal immigrants, who are in the trepidation of being deported, victimized and tortured by enforcement officials.
In the wake of the travel ban, an outpouring of doomsday messages and stern warnings predicting a calamity have proliferated on the social media. It’s hard to gauge the truth from the falsehood and rumors.
Travel ban, Republican Hindu Coalition faces criticism
Some of the messages, like video recordings and mass e-mails are from well-known Indian American immigration lawyers. These messages said: don’t step your foot outside of the US or even travel domestically, especially to the border areas of Mexico and Canada and that includes even Green Card holders.
“Do not sign I-407 – no matter what the pressure. I-407 means you are voluntarily renouncing your Green Card and thereby likely will be denied entry. A GC renounced CANNOT be re-instated,” wrote an Indian American attorney based in New York City.
Another nationally recognized attorney pleaded in a video message to not travel for at least the next one month, as “President Trump may soon sign new executive orders.”
Another attorney warned that some Green Card holders have already been deported or detained.
No case of a legal resident from India being detained at any US airport because of Trump’s travel ban.
Justice department meets Iowa south Asians on hate crime
“They have been doing immigration status checks in Oak Tree Road in Edison this week,” said a message on social media.
“I have been working at this store for over five years, and we have had no incident of any kind here, no police presence either. This is just a rumor,” Vibha Shah, a cashier at Patel Brothers in Edison, said.
Jignesh Patel, manager at the same Patel Brothers in Edison, confirmed, saying: “I am not aware of any such incident. No doubt people are scared, but if you have U.S. citizenship or the right papers, what is the need to worry.”
Dolly Singh, a cashier at Subzi Mandi in Edison, said: “People have been talking about being checked by immigration officials. I also saw the message on WhatsApp. I did not see anyone being questioned, so I can’t tell for sure of this happened, but it feels like a hoax.”
Apna Bazaar, explained that “No one is or will be checking anything. This is a completely false and baseless rumor that is spread by people who enjoy creating fear and confusion in the society.”
By Premji
