Rumors that 'Muslim Ban' will soon expand to Colombia and Venezuela false: lawyers association

Rumors that 10 additional countries will be added to President Trump’s controversial January 25 travel ban are false, according to the American Immigration Lawyers Association, AILA.

The Department of State informed AILA that “there is no addendum, annex, or amendment now being worked on to expand visa revocations or the travel ban to countries other than those currently implicated in the Executive Order,” according to a Thursday statement.

Just days after President Trump announced the Executive Order “ Enhancing Public Safety in the Interior of the United States,” which impacts citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen, rumors circulated that a modified Executive Order would include Colombia, Venezuela, Egypt, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Pakistan, southern Philippines, trans-Sahara (Mali), and Sulu/Sulawesi Seas Littoral.

On Wednesday, some immigration lawyers cautioned nationals from those countries not to travel and to exercise extreme caution.

Hammond Law Group, a Cincinnati, Ohio immigration firm, wrote in an email alert: “Given the manner in which the current travel ban was implemented and the way it was announced with no advanced notice, not to mention the lack of guidance with regard to how it was to be enforced, we have no choice but to suggest that nationals from any country on this new list (without regard to their immigration status) refrain from traveling outside the US until such time as we know more about this proposed Executive Order.”

The alert added: “It is entirely possible that this information is either inaccurate or incomplete; however, the severe consequences of being denied re-entry into the US would suggest extreme caution is justified at this time.”

But on Thursday, AILA asked its members to “help end the spread of this false information.”

“DOS confirmed that there is no information that supports such a rumor,” it said.

Just a day earlier, rumors swirled both online and off that Miami Beach Police and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) were conducting operations to detain undocumented immigrants across the city of Miami. Those rumors were also found to be false.

"Lesson of [the] day," read a Wednesday tweet from the Community Justice Project, a legal organization in Miami, “our communities are on high alert & there is real, grounded fear of what's to come. We must love and protect each other.”

Miami immigration lawyer Wilfredo Allen told Univision that he received numerous text messages on his phone from worried clients on Thursday. He called congressional sources to double check but also came to the conclusion that the rumors were “an urban myth.”

“If I had a nickel for every text and call I got today I could buy myself a nice dinner,” he added.