Bay Area Refugees, Advocates Anxious About Trump's New Ban

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) – Refugees living in the Bay Area, and those who advocate for them, think President Donald Trump's revised travel order is almost as draconian as the first one.

KCBS profiled Subhi Nahas when he fled Syria and moved to San Francisco almost two years ago, a gay Syrian refugee finally finding peace and stability in the Bay Area.

Nahas has a job, he's applied for his Permanent Resident ("Green") Card, but that sense of security has been shattered by the Trump administration's attitude on immigration.

"I don't have any other place if they say I don't have the right to be here. I don't have anywhere else to go, so I'm being very, very careful. And I'm afraid" Nahas said Monday.

Nahas read the president's new travel ban, and sees nothing to calm his fears. He is afraid to even fly to Seattle, let alone try to cross any international borders.

Zahra Billoo head of the Bay Area chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations, said many people share his fear and they're not reassured by changes in the ban that she considers insignificant.

"This is a Muslim ban. They promised that, they're targeting Muslim-majority countries," Billoo told KCBS. "They're not making us safer, they're going against past precedents of current Department of Homeland Security leadership, really just to advance his agenda of excluding Muslims from the United States.