The California Armenian Legislative Caucus Foundation condemns Trump administration’s suspension of Armenian visas
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The California Armenian Legislative Caucus Foundation condemns the Trump Administration’s suspension of Armenian visas. According to the Trump administration, they have indefinitely suspended immigrant visa processing for people from 75 countries, including Armenia. The freeze targets applicants that the Trump Administration deems likely to become a “public charge” — people who they believe may rely on government benefits for basic needs.
California is home to the largest Armenian American population in the United States, and Armenians living in California have enriched our state for over 100 years through their leadership and contribution in business, agriculture, academia, government, medicine, technology, the arts and more.
“The denial of visas will cause real harm by separating families who have followed the law, disrupting California’s workforce and economy and advancing fear-based policies that destabilize our communities. This policy not only disrupts lives in California but also sends a troubling message about who is welcome in America,” said chair and assemblymember John Harabedian (D-Pasadena).
“The Trump Administration’s suspension of processing immigrant visas from 75 countries is yet another manifestation of this administration’s cruelty and xenophobia. Blanket bans on people, like those from Armenia, who only want an opportunity to seek the American Dream, are simply unjustified. I am proud to represent the largest diaspora of Armenians in the state. This proud community contributes enormously to our economic and cultural strength. As a member of the California Armenian Legislative Caucus Foundation, I fully support our clear position against this new hostile federal policy,” said senator Sasha Renée Pérez (D-Pasadena).
“Los Angeles is home to one of the largest Armenian communities in the country. Banning people based on where they come from does not make us safer — it makes us smaller. We should be working to fix a broken immigration system with fairness and humanity, not advancing policies that punish innocent people and target entire communities,” said assemblymember Jessica Caloza (D-Los Angeles).
“Armenian immigrants have helped build our communities for over a century, and their contributions across every industry have made California the economic powerhouse it is today. This action by the Trump Administration is a throwback to the failed policies of the past. History has shown that excluding communities has never made us stronger,” said assemblymember Nick Schultz (D-Burbank).
The California Armenian Legislative Caucus Foundation serves as a forum for members from the California Senate and Assembly to identify key issues affecting Armenian Americans and develop and empower the Armenian American community throughout California. The Foundation encourages advocacy and participation in cultural, educational and community efforts in California. Through advocacy, the Foundation strives to ensure that California Armenian American’s voices are heard and given a platform.
This is not really a surprise. Trump specifically said he was only interested in Nordic looking immigrants from wealthy Western countries, and Afrikaners.
Here is the full list, which includes war-torn countries, US allies, and countries with long-standing legal and illegal migration to the United States:
1. Afghanistan
2. Albania
3. Algeria
4. Antigua and Barbuda
5. Armenia
6. Azerbaijan
7. Bahamas
8. Bangladesh
9. Barbados
10. Belarus
11. Belize
12. Bhutan
13. Bosnia and Herzegovina
14. Brazil
15. Myanmar
16. Cambodia
17. Cameroon
18. Cape Verde
19. Colombia
20. Côte d’Ivoire
21. Cuba
22. Democratic Republic of the Congo
23. Dominica
24. Egypt
25. Eritrea
26. Ethiopia
27. Fiji
28. The Gambia
29. Georgia
30. Ghana
31. Grenada
32. Guatemala
33. Guinea
34. Haiti
35. Iran
36. Iraq
37. Jamaica
38. Jordan
39. Kazakhstan
40. Kosovo
41. Kuwait
42. Kyrgyzstan
43. Laos
44. Lebanon
45. Liberia
46. Libya
47. North Macedonia
48. Moldova
49. Mongolia
50. Montenegro
51. Morocco
52. Nepal
53. Nicaragua
54. Nigeria
55. Pakistan
56. Republic of the Congo
57. Russia
58. Rwanda
59. St Kitts and Nevis
60. St Lucia
61. St Vincent and the Grenadines
62. Senegal
63. Sierra Leone
64. Somalia
65. South Sudan
66. Sudan
67. Syria
68. Tanzania
69. Thailand
70. Togo
71. Tunisia
72. Uganda
73. Uruguay
74. Uzbekistan
75. Yemen
Interestingly, Turkey or the Arab Gulf countries are not in this list, as well as many other Third World countries and conflict countries, nor countries with long-standing legal and illegal migration such as Venezuela, Mexico, Ecuador, Peru, Honduras or El Salvador.
It appears Trump had this list prepared according to his own whims and fancies, not according to genuine security concerns and US national interests.
Oh look Russia and Belarus are on the list too!
I hope the Armenian Americans who have allied themselves with the MAGA movement will reflect on this. Trump and his regime do not see Armenians as desirable. ie. white.
I tried to respond to you, but the administrator clearly did not like what I had to say.
The Trump administration made clear that the people being restricted have a very high percentage of immigrants on the US welfare system. A young woman from Armenia, an attorney, recently married my cousin’s child. She and I spoke at a family event, and she said she did everything legally, but that many Armenians she knew coming into our country were illegally here, on “welfare” of some kind, and were mocking her for being so “stupid”. I told her, as a full-blooded Armenian whose family came here before and after the genocide, that she is exactly the type of person we want in this country, and that I was proud of her for doing everything properly. As a group, we should shun those who’ve come here illegally and expose them, not help them. Our reputation in this country has sadly fallen because of the behavior of some.
I don’t mean to defend or disparage anyone, just analyzing that is, but most welfare recipients in this country are native born and native speakers. Welfare fraud which is what you are implying I assume is nothing new and certainly not unique to any particular group of immigrant population. It is wrong and perhaps it does give Armenians who have been here for a very long time, and particularly those who were born here, a very bad name and even tarnish their good reputation in this country but at the same time it is the responsibility of authorities to grant or to deny such help to those who claim to require it. Besides, most immigrants requiring government assistance come from countries which Trump labels as people from the “Third World”, not to mention many other labels meant to denigrate them, and are mostly those who either don’t speak the language of the land at all or don’t speak it fluently and are of advanced age with very little or no relevant skills to be self-sufficient. Those who can take care of themselves are primarily the young and the educated ones with relevant skills and the command of the native language. Right or wrong and whether we like it or not there will always be those who will try to take advantage of loopholes in the system but let’s also not forget all the businesses many of the members of these immigrant populations have created in this country and the hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes they pay and how some of those tax dollars are wasted overseas thousands of miles away from American shores instead of being invested internally in various socio-economic programs to improve people’s lives. It can be argued that is a form of fraud itself.
While Trump is restricting entry into this country, not to mention disrupting the lives of many already here with their loved ones overseas, he himself as a multi-billionaire, according to many reports, had contributed less than a thousand dollars a year in taxes to the United States treasury at the time when he ran for his first term as president. I don’t think Trump is creating these restrictions for what he claims but because, based on his personal views and prejudices all out in the open, he regards such people as “undesirables” because they don’t look like him and don’t speak like he does even though he himself can barely express his thoughts coherently, by any stretch of imagination, in his own native language!
I noticed Lebanon with fairly large Armenian population was in the list of Trump administration’s visa suspension. I have no connection to that place but someone should have reminded Trump that one Lebanon-born Lebanese Armenian immigrant by the name of Noubar Afeyan an American-Canadian entrepreneur, inventor, and philanthropist best known for co-founding the biotechnology company Moderna in Cambridge, Massachusetts played a pivotal role in the recent COVID-19 pandemic by rapidly developing one of the first highly effective vaccines contributing significantly to public health efforts saving tens of thousands of American lives during Trump’s first term as president when thousands were dying on daily basis at a time when all Trump could do was to muse about the possibility of using “very powerful light” and injecting disinfectant into the body to kill COVID-19!
Ararat, Trump couldn’t care less about Noubar Afeyan and his contributions. Trump is a narcissistic, racist pig and all his policies reflect the kind of person he is