Trump’s ‘Muslim ban’ continues to delay family reunification
WASHINGTON – Former President Donald Trump’s 2017 ban on Muslims entering the country continues to affect family reunifications.
Although the ban was lifted when President Joe Biden took office in 2021, the additional vetting requirements are still causing delays in processing refugee cases.
Delays worsened when embassies around the world had to close their doors due to the COVID -19 pandemic and conflicts in various parts of the world.
According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, about 20,000 refugee family reunification applications were awaiting initial approval in March.
In addition, more than 25,000 cases had already passed that stage and were awaiting interviews and further processing at U.S. embassies abroad.
While in 2017, the processing time was eight months. In 2022, it has drastically increased to over two years.
Prior to 2017, U.S. immigrants applying for family reunification had to provide information about their previous addresses and phone numbers going back five years.
Under Trump’s ban, they had to report the information for 10 years. The requirements also applied to refugees trying to immigrate to the United States outside of family reunification efforts.
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