Gov. Ferguson, WA leaders slam Trump’s new travel bans, call them ‘hate repackaged’
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Trump's 2025 travel ban bars entry from 12 nations, with partial limits on 7 more.
- Washington state officials vow legal and moral opposition, citing past leadership.
- Critics label the policy xenophobic; legal challenges face conservative court headwinds.
After putting a stop to President Donald Trump’s original 2017 travel ban, then-Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson received thousands of letters expressing thanks.
He replied to some handwritten notes, including one by a young girl from an affected country that read, “Because you stood up, I can be here.” Ferguson’s daughter tacked on a doodle — he thinks it was a butterfly — and the two children later met up for a play date.
Ferguson, now Washington’s governor, recounted that story at a Tuesday news conference. He joined other state officials and community leaders to decry the latest travel bans issued last week by Trump.
“It always struck me, the idea that two 7- or 8-year-old kids can fully understand things in a way that our president cannot,” he said June 10 at the Sea-Tac Office Complex. “And I’m not sure what to say as an American about that, other than I do think that play date represents what we all care about: Diversity makes us better.”
The current travel-ban iteration took effect Monday and prohibits foreign nationals from 12 countries — including Afghanistan, Iran, Yemen and Sudan — from entering the United States. Partial restrictions also apply to people from seven other countries, including Cuba and Venezuela.
In arguing for the ban, the President pointed to the recent Colorado firebombing attack allegedly committed by an Egyptian national against pro-Israel demonstrators. Travel restrictions during his first term were key to preventing terrorism on American soil, he said in a video posted last week to Truth Social.
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said in an emailed statement that everything Trump does is in the best interest of Americans and their safety.
“His commonsense, country-specific travel restrictions include places that lack proper vetting, exhibit high visa overstay rates, or fail to share identity and threat information,” Jackson said. “The restrictions fulfill the President’s day-one promise to protect American citizens from dangerous foreign actors who may come to the United States and cause us harm.”
But Trump’s latest travel bans have generated pushback from immigrant advocacy groups, world leaders and Democrats, who’ve blasted it as racist, xenophobic and discriminatory.
Ferguson hinted Tuesday at feeling a sense of deja vu.
“While it does seem difficult to believe we are back here again, one thing has not changed,” Ferguson said. “That is Washington will not just stand up to what’s going on. We will lead on this issue, just like we have in the past.”
Still, questions remain as to what actions the state will — or can — take this time around.
Attorney General Nick Brown highlighted his predecessor’s efforts to fight the previous so-called Muslim travel ban, noting that Washington was the first state to do so.
Brown said his office, which has so far filed 21 cases against the Trump administration, is actively looking into how it can challenge the president’s updated version: “But it will be difficult.” He cited the conservative makeup of the U.S. Supreme Court as a possible barrier.
Trump also recently deployed U.S. Marines and National Guard troops to Los Angeles to stamp out protests against his administration’s immigration policies. Brown said that escalation, coupled with the ban, shows that “what we are seeing from the President of the United States of America is creeping authoritarianism.”
“We’re seeing efforts to erase history, to silence powerful voices against him, and we’re seeing time and time again a disregard for the law,” Brown said. “These are all characteristics of a fascist government, and we need to use not only our legal tools, but use our collective voices to reaffirm the moral righteousness of this country.”
State Rep. Darya Farivar was the first Middle Eastern woman elected to the Washington state Legislature. The Seattle Democrat said Tuesday that her family fled Iran in search of a better life: “I am living proof of that hope — and yet here we are again.”
“This travel ban is not new. It is hate repackaged. It is fear recycled, and it is xenophobia dressed as policy,” she said. “We reject it.”
This story was originally published June 10, 2025 at 12:54 PM.
.jpg)