Donald Trump travel ban comes into force amid fears of chaos at airports

President Donald Trump’s travel ban targeting refugees and visitors to America from six Muslim-majority countries goes into force today amid fears of chaos at the nation’s airports as immigration officials grapple with new White House guidelines.

The Trump administration circulated its new criteria for the ban last night requiring visa applicants from Iran, Libya, Syria, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen to have “close family” or business ties.

However, grandparents, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, in laws or extended family or grandchildren are not sufficiently close family under the new rules and people from the six barred countries citing them as contacts will be turned away, according to senior administration sources.

The move to re-instate a watered down version of Mr Trump’s original travel ban comes after the US Supreme Court partially restored the president’s executive order that was widely criticised as a ban on Muslims.

According to a State Department cable sent to US embassies and consulates yesterday, applicants from the six countries must prove a relationship with a parent, spouse, child, adult son or daughter, son-in-law, daughter-in-law or sibling in the US.

Immigrants from the six countries who can not sufficiently establish such a close relationship are banned for 90 days - and 120 days if they are refugees from any country.

After months of winding through the courts, the travel ban will go into effect from 8pm US East Coast time today.

The president has adamantly denied the ban is aimed at Muslims, insisting that the identified nations impose a bigger terror threat.

Mr Trump’s executive order states that “additional scrutiny” is required for foreign nationals travelling from the six countries because “the conditions in these countries present heightened threats. Each of these countries is a state sponsor of terrorism, has been significantly compromised by terrorist organisations, or contains active conflict zones.”

Human rights groups such as Amnesty International plan to send representatives to US airports, such as Dulles International Airport in Washington DC and New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport to monitor developments and observe implementation of the ban in case any disputes arise.

When the Trump White House rolled out his first attempt at a travel ban in January, bedlam ensued almost immediately as foreigners from seven predominately Muslim countries tried to enter the US, only to be turned away at the border or separated from loved ones abroad.

“Today’s order will create more confusion, delays, and litigation,” Stephen Yale-Loehr, a professor of immigration law practice at Cornell Law School, told CNN last night.

“How individuals will prove such a (bona fide) relationship, and whether the burden of proof will be on the government or the individuals seeking entry, remains to be seen. I predict chaos at the border and new lawsuits as foreign nationals and refugees argue that they are entitled to enter the United States,” he added.

“The hope is that this really only impacts a very small number of people,” said Becca Heller, director of the International Refugee Assistance Project.