Maine’s immigrant communities are afraid, confused and saddened by the latest restrictions and foreign travel bans imposed by the Trump administration, local advocates say.

The crackdown on 19 countries — primarily in Africa and the Middle East — is having a profound chilling effect, whether the immigrants are registered asylum seekers, legal residents with official green cards or naturalized U.S. citizens who have lived here for decades.

They are canceling travel plans, curbing social media activity and struggling to understand how the restrictions, which began Monday, will affect them and their loved ones in the weeks and months ahead.

Many are fearful for family members snared by sudden policy changes that are shattering long-standing reunification plans. Universities and private schools are monitoring the situation to see how it might disrupt foreign student travel and recruitment in the future.

One Maine family that has been granted asylum and has been planning to bring other family members to the U.S. tried but failed to purchase plane tickets so they could travel before the ban took effect, said Mufalo Chitam, executive director of the Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition.

“Their plans are being blown up,” Chitam said. “It’s devastating when you have people who have worked so hard to have asylum granted, and they have prepared for family members to come and now they are in limbo.”

TRAVEL BAN 

A full ban on entering the U.S. applies to foreign nationals from Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. Heightened restrictions apply to people from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.

On the advice of Cabinet members, Trump issued a proclamation on the travel ban last week after a firebombing attack in Boulder, Colorado. It stated that some foreign nationals “pose significant risks of overstaying their visas in the United States,” increasing immigration enforcement challenges and risks to national security and public safety.

“We don’t want them,” Trump said.

The man charged in the Boulder attack is from Egypt, which is not on the restricted list. Trump has said countries may be added or deleted at any time.

The current action revisits Trump’s first travel ban, enacted in January 2017 at the start of his first term, which targeted seven mostly Muslim countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. Ultimately upheld by the Supreme Court, it was repeatedly revised to include additional countries, such as North Korea and Venezuela, while others were dropped.

Chitam, who came to the U.S. from Zambia in 2000, said the sudden and open-ended aspects of the current ban are stoking fear and confusion, in part because the language and reasons for each country are unclear.

For instance, the list includes the Republic of the Congo, a small central African country beside the much bigger Democratic Republic of the Congo, which has a large immigrant community in Maine.

“There’s still confusion over which Congo it is,” Chitam said. “When you put out information like this, it is difficult for people to interpret and understand.”

DOUBLE WHAMMY 

The travel ban is a double whammy for immigrants from Afghanistan because, effective mid-July, the Trump administration also has terminated Temporary Protected Status for Afghans who served alongside America’s military, some of whom have settled in Maine.

Fazel Qaney, president of the Afghan Community of Maine, said the restrictions are having a negative impact on community members.

“The U.S. was stationed in Afghanistan for 20 years,” Qaney said in an emailed statement. “During that time, there were thousands of Afghans who were working with the U.S. Army, U.S. Embassy and U.S. contractors directly or indirectly.”

About 60,000 Afghan evacuees were airlifted out of Kabul and flown to the U.S. in the wake of the war. As many as 225 were resettled in Maine, which already had about 400 Afghan-American residents.

Thousands of Afghans are still waiting to come to the U.S. Now, some who are already here won’t be able to bring their spouses, he said.

“There are still thousands of them waiting in a third country for their cases to get processed and finally come to the country,” Qaney said. “They feel really upset about it.”

WIDE-REACHING EFFECTS 

Reza Jalali, an author, educator and human rights activist who was born in Iran and came to Maine in 1985, said the immigration and travel restrictions will have far-reaching and long-lasting impacts, including on immigrants from other countries who fear being targeted in the current climate.

“Who wants to be stopped at the airport and asked questions and have your devices examined — all for no reason at all?” Jalali asked.

Jalali predicted the travel restrictions will hurt Maine’s economy, making it harder for businesses to fill jobs, labs to fill research positions, and universities and private schools to attract students whose tuition payments and spending habits benefit many communities.

“It’s sending shock waves across the world,” Jalali said. “It will affect companies that need foreign workers and are already dealing with tariffs. It will have a chilling effect on where foreign students choose to go.”

The University of Maine System enrolled 939 foreign students among more than 24,000 students systemwide during the spring semester, with nearly two-thirds coming from Canada, Ghana, Nepal, China, India, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Jamaica, Iran and Japan, according to data provided by spokesperson Samantha Warren.

“That data is the extent of what the university (system) is providing to the press at this time,” Warren said in an email. “We continue to communicate and provide support to all of our international students, including those impacted by this and other federal directives.”

The University of New England, with campuses in Portland and Biddeford, has yet to see any impact of travel bans on its students, said spokesperson Sarah Delage.

“But we are closely monitoring the situation,” Delage said in an emailed statement. “We are in close contact with our continuing and new, incoming international students, as well as with student groups traveling abroad for academic purposes.”

HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS 

At North Yarmouth Academy in Yarmouth, Head of School Ben Jackson said they are “cautiously optimistic” that the current pause in scheduling visa interviews will be lifted in time to support student travel for the upcoming school year.

In May, the Trump administration paused new student visa interviews while it considers requiring all foreigners applying to study in the U.S. to undergo social media vetting.

Recognizing the situation is a real concern for families, the academy has assured all enrolled students that they will receive a full refund if they are unable to obtain a visa due to these circumstances, Jackson said in a emailed statement.

The school’s goal is to enroll 20 international students for fall 2025, representing countries such as South Korea, Vietnam, Brazil, Ukraine and Canada, he said. It currently has 13 enrolled, with several applications in process.

“As long as visa processing resumes in the coming weeks, we remain confident in reaching our goal,” Jackson said. “International students are an important part of the NYA community, and we value the contribution they make to our school.”

The potential repercussions trouble Jalali, who consults with companies that want to increase their workforce diversity. It affects him on a personal level.

“I no longer recognize this country that I came to 40 years ago this month,” Jalali said. “It really is so different from the America that lured me back then. I worry about the young people in different parts of the world who won’t come here to start a company or work in research or teach or build or even to die for this country.”

In the meantime, Jalali counts himself among those who won’t be traveling anytime soon.

“I’m going to stay put, as many immigrants plan to do,” he said.