The Trump administration had a rare moment of hospitality toward non-white immigrants on Monday, as Customs and Border Protection sought to distance themselves from a ferry traveling from the Bahamas to Florida that barred Bahamians from traveling without a U.S. visa. More than 100 people fleeing the devastation from Hurricane Dorian were kicked off the ferry for failing to have visas, even though under typical circumstances—and in cases of other Bahamian refugees leaving post-Dorian—the islanders had been able to travel to the U.S. with only their passport and a police record. In an uncharacteristic response, the Trump administration claimed they didn't have anything to do with the seemingly anti-immigrant move, instead blaming the private ferry operator and insisting they would have welcomed the immigrants with open arms. “If those folks did stay on the boat and arrived, we would have processed them, vetted them, and worked within our laws and protocols and done what we had to do to facilitate them,” a CBP official told WSVN journalist Brian Entin early Monday morning, calling it a “business decision” on the ferry company's part. “They were not ordered off the boat by any U.S. government entity.” CBP Acting Commissioner Mark Morgan then clarified in a press briefing Monday that all Bahamians would be allowed to come to the U.S., “whether you have travel documents or not.”

Of course, that moment of compassion did not last long before the president intervened. Not one to let people think his administration was going to start letting in immigrants all willy-nilly, President Donald Trump clarified to reporters Monday that those fleeing the Bahamas would only be accepted into the U.S. with “totally proper documentation.” And this being Trump, the president naturally framed his xenophobia as a way to keep out the supposedly “very bad people” fleeing the Category 5-level devastation. “We have to be very careful,” Trump said. “Look, the Bahamas had some tremendous problems with people going to the Bahamas that weren't supposed to be there. I don't want to allow people that weren't supposed to be in the Bahamas to come in to the United States, including some very bad people and some very bad gang members and some very very bad drug dealers.” (The president may be referring to the Bahamas' large population of Haitian immigrants, who have faced xenophobia in the Bahamas and a stigma that has reportedly made them particularly vulnerable in Dorian's wake.) Trump instead touted how the U.S. government has been transporting affected Bahamians to areas of the Bahamas that were not affected, rather than bringing them to American shores. “We'll see what happens,” he said about the recovery efforts.

Trump's Monday comments marked the latest instance of the president using a “Trojan horse” excuse to justify keeping immigrants out of the country, claiming—without any facts to back him up—that there are lots of “bad people” and “criminals” that warrant blocking entire immigrant groups. (To name just a few examples, the president has used this claim against Syrian refugees, immigrants using family-based migration, and diversity visa lottery recipients, not to mention his campaign-launch claims that the border wall is needed because Mexico is “bringing crime” and sending “rapists” to the U.S.) Whether the president will be able to block those fleeing the Bahamas remains to be seen, though at least other politicians—including Republicans—have signaled their desire to see the U.S. offer a much-needed reprieve to those affected by the hurricane. Congresswoman Frederica Wilson and 14 other members of Florida's congressional delegation have signed a letter asking the White House to extend Temporary Protected Status to Bahamians, which the Trump administration has said it's considering, and Florida Senators Rick Scott and Marco Rubio asked Trump to waive or suspend visa requirements for affected Bahamians with relatives in the U.S. “As Americans, and others throughout our hemisphere and across the globe, work to provide aid and assistance for the many needs of the Bahamian people at this time, perhaps one of the most basic yet meaningful steps our government can take immediately is to ensure that those who have lost everything, including family members in some instances, are provided the opportunity for shelter and reunification with family in the United States,” the Republican senators wrote in a letter.

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