Travel ban: Relatives of 9/11 victims gather in NY to condemn Donald Trump's order

Relatives of some of the victims of the 9/11 attacks gathered in New York to demonstrate against the travel ban imposed by US President Donald Trump. The crowd of around 10 people came together at New York’s Battery Park, close to the site of the attacks on Twin Towers. Several of those said Trump, through the order, was inducing fear.

Trump’s travel ban, which stems from an executive order signed on Jan. 27, denies citizens from seven Muslim majority countries entry to the US. The order has been met with widespread remonstration from citizens and rights campaigners. Following the implementation of the ban, the refugee resettlement program between Australia and the US before Trump came into office also looked in jeopardy.

Terry McGovern lost her mother in the South Tower in the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. “I felt sick to my stomach to see that he lists 9/11 [as a rationale for the ban]. My mother would have hated this – the use of her death to justify banning people,” McGovern said, speaking with the New York Daily News.

“I think there’s just a fear, and I think that they probably aren’t paying attention to where the terrorists on 9/11 were actually from, and I don’t think they’re understanding that we’re talking about children and people who want to come to this country for the same reason we all come to this country,” McGovern added.

Last month, a woman who had been living in Australia for 17 years was denied entry to the United States. The woman was a citizen of one of the countries included in Trump’s travel ban list.

The incident, which occurred at the Los Angeles International Airport, was witnessed by Kim Greenock, from Perth. The woman, who had landed at the airport a short while after the executive was signed and brought into effect, had not surrendered her citizenship of one of the countries listed on Trump’s travel ban.

Talat Hamdani’s son, a police officer, died while responding to the 9/11 attacks. “The current administration is trying to exploit our pain,” Hamdani said. “They are vultures. They are picking on the blood of 9/11. It is immoral and unethical. This country was founded by immigrants.”

Following difficulties that led Trump’s travel ban to courts, the US State Department has issued a memo outlining a revised version of the ban. According to the Wall Street Journal, the new order exempts green card holders from being denied entry into the country. The revised order could be implemented by Tuesday.