Under President Donald Trump’s new travel proclamation, three new countries have been added: Chad, North Korea and Venezuela.
No existing visas will be revoked.
At first, Celestino de Caires, a Venezuelan activist in the Bay Area, was shocked to see his home country on this list.
"We never thought that we would be part of a group with about five or six Middle East countries," he said.
But Venezuela’s addition to the travel ban includes only President Nicholas Maduro, top members of his government and their close family members. De Caires says that will only block fewer than 100 Venezuelans from coming to the United States. As an opponent of Maduro, de Caires said it's a good move.
"September 5th, the Canada government passed a resolution that was practically the same," he said.
Opponents of Trump’s much disputed original travel ban say the new version still unfairly targets Muslim majority countries.
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"With North Korea, the immigration patterns have been quite nominal," said Aleca Vafaie, an attorney with the Asian Law Caucus. "So, at the end of the day, it really remains a Muslim ban."
North Korean surpreme leader Kim Jung Un’s government already does not allow citizens to travel to the U.S.
Several lawsuits challenging Trump's original travel ban are still making their way through the courts.
