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President Donald Trump’s new\u00a0ban on travel<\/a>\u00a0to the U.S. by citizens from 12 mainly African and Middle Eastern countries is set to take effect Monday amid\u00a0escalating tension<\/a>\u00a0over the president’s\u00a0unprecedented campaign<\/a>\u00a0of immigration enforcement.<\/p>\n The new proclamation, which Trump signed on Wednesday<\/a>, applies to citizens of Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. It also imposes heightened restrictions on people from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela who are outside the U.S. and don\u2019t hold a valid visa.<\/p>\n The new ban does not revoke visas previously issued to people from countries on the list, according to guidance issued Friday<\/a> to all U.S. diplomatic missions. However, unless an applicant meets narrow criteria for an exemption to the ban<\/a>, his or her application will be rejected starting Monday. Travelers<\/a> with previously issued visas should still be able to enter the U.S. even after the ban takes effect.<\/p>\n Haitian-American Elvanise Louis-Juste, who was at the airport Sunday in Newark, New Jersey, awaiting a flight to her home state of Florida, said many Haitians wanting to come to the U.S. are simply seeking to escape violence and unrest in their country.<\/p>\n \u201cI have family in Haiti, so it\u2019s pretty upsetting to see and hear,\u201d Louis-Juste, 23, said of the travel ban. \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s a good thing. I think it\u2019s very upsetting.\u201d<\/p>\n Many immigration experts say the new ban is designed to beat any court challenge by focusing on the visa application process and appears more carefully crafted than a hastily written executive order<\/a> during Trump’s first term that denied entry to citizens of mainly Muslim countries.<\/p>\n In a video posted Wednesday on social media, Trump said nationals of countries included in the ban pose \u201cterrorism-related\u201d and \u201cpublic-safety\u201d risks, as well as risks of overstaying their visas. He also said some of these countries had \u201cdeficient\u201d screening and vetting or have historically refused to take back their citizens.<\/p>\n His findings rely extensively on an annual Homeland Security report about tourists, businesspeople and students who overstay U.S. visas and arrive by air or sea, singling out countries with high percentages of nationals who remain after their visas expired.<\/p>\n Trump also tied the new ban to a terrorist attack in Boulder, Colorado<\/a>, saying it underscored the dangers posed by some visitors who overstay visas<\/a>. The man charged in the attack is from Egypt, a country that is not on Trump\u2019s restricted list. U.S. officials say he overstayed a tourist visa<\/a>.<\/p>\n The ban was quickly denounced by groups that provide aid and resettlement help to refugees.<\/p>\n \u201cThis policy is not about national security \u2014 it is about sowing division and vilifying communities that are seeking safety and opportunity in the United States,\u201d said Abby Maxman, president of Oxfam America, a nonprofit international relief organization.<\/p>\n Venezuela President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro\u2019s government condemned the travel ban, characterizing it in a statement as a \u201cstigmatization and criminalization campaign\u201d against Venezuelans.<\/p>\n This story was originally featured on Fortune.com<\/a><\/p>\n