New U.S. travel ban is 'cruel,' Myanmar association in Ontario says

The head of an association for the Myanmar community in Ontario says a new travel ban announced by U.S. President Donald Trump is "cruel" to the people of his country.

Napas Thein, president of the Burma Canadian Association of Ontario, says the people of Myanmar are already facing difficulties in their own country with a military coup and new law mandating military service, and the ban will make it harder to move to a safer place. 

He says members of his community in Canada will not be allowed into the United States to study or visit due to the new ban, which takes effect Monday. 

Thein says he and others from the Myanmar diaspora who are Canadian citizens feel uneasy about crossing the border and some have already started cancelling plans to attend conferences or visit their families in the United States.

WATCH | Trump defends travel ban: 

Trump defends travel ban on 12 countries: ‘We don’t want them’

2 days ago

Duration 2:02

U.S. President Donald Trump defended banning entry to citizens of twelve countries and imposing stiff travel restrictions on seven other countries. Trump said he’s focused on countries that pose a terror threat, have a history of visa violations or lack safe travel documentation systems.

Trump announced Wednesday that citizens of 12 countries — Myanmar, Afghanistan, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen — would be banned from visiting the United States.

Seven more countries — Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela — face heightened travel restrictions.

Some of the 12 countries on the banned list were targeted by a similar measure Trump enacted in his first term.

Dawit Demoz, vice-president of the Eritrean Canadian Community Centre in Toronto, says his organization is  "deeply concerned" about the implications of the new travel ban for the Eritrean diaspora.

He says many families in the Eritrean community south of the border remain separated due to the ongoing political and humanitarian crisis in their home country, and the new ban further complicates their efforts to reunite.

"[The ban] creates additional fear and uncertainty for those seeking safety and connection across borders," he said. 

"For our community, policies like this do not just impact travel but they deepen isolation, delay reunification and compound the emotional toll experienced by displaced individuals."