Less than 24 hours after President Donald Trump announced that citizens from 12 countries would be banned from visiting the United States, Marylanders with strong ties to the local immigrant community affected by the ban reacted with shock and outrage, anxious about what might come next.

The ban takes effect Monday at 12:01 a.m. for Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. Visitors from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela will also face heightened restrictions.

On Thursday, the White House said there would also be several exemptions to the ban and restrictions, including those who are U.S. permanent residents; the spouses and children of U.S. citizens who have “clear and convincing evidence of identity and family relationship”; Afghans who assisted American forces and have special visas; diplomats; athletes; and dual nationals with a passport from a country not listed in the president’s proclamation.

In Baltimore, Councilwoman Phylicia Porter said she was “disheartened, saddened and devastated” by the news of the ban.

“The idea of President Trump’s travel ban rooted in fear and prejudice threatens to tear apart Baltimore’s immigrant communities — our neighbors, coworkers, and friends,” she said. “Policies like this erase humanity, and we cannot stand silently as families are fractured and dignity is denied.”

Catalina Rodriguez-Lima, who heads the city’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, promised Baltimore would continue to work to make sure all people, including immigrants and refugees, feel welcome and safe.

“This ban has the potential to disproportionately impact individuals who are lawfully attempting to enter the U.S. — whether to reunite with family or seek protection —forcing many to remain in dangerous and unstable conditions," she added.

The White House defended the ban and restrictions saying that they fulfill Trump’s “promise to protect Americans from dangerous foreign actors that want to come to our country and cause us harm.”

Calling them “commonsense restrictions,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson wrote in an email the ban included: “country-specific and include places that lack proper vetting, exhibit high visa overstay rates, or fail to share identity and threat information.”

Maryland’s U.S. Sens. Chris Van Hollen and Angela Alsobrooks denounced Trump’s plans.

Van Hollen said the travel ban “unleashed chaos in America” when it was instituted during Trump’s first presidency. The President’s overreaching travel ban, Alsobrooks said, “will not make Maryland any safer.”

Some critics say Trump’s policies — including the travel ban — specifically target non-white immigrants.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, America’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, condemned the ban and sanctions.

“This measure is little more than a blueprint for legalized bigotry,” said CAIR’s Maryland Director Zainab Chaudry. “By singling out and targeting African and Muslim-majority countries, this policy revives the dangerous notion that nationals of an entire nation are suspect simply because of their faith, race, or beliefs.”

“Advocates fought this ban and won in court before, we are ready to fight again,” Chaudry added.

Martin François, owner of François Caribbean Cuisine, a downtown restaurant that has become a beacon for Haitians, said there is hypocrisy embedded in Trump’s policies.

“It’s like racism on another level,” he said. “It’s causing more separation and outrage.”

Francois said he knows all-too-well the realities of a travel ban and beefed-up border patrol.

In 2021, on a trip back from Costa Rica, he was detained in Miami for more than 24 hours. His green card was confiscated and he was warned by agents there never to enter the country through Miami.

François, whose family moved from Haiti to the Eastern Shore when he was 9, still has family in Caribbean island nation.

“I’m not even able to visit them with the fear of not being able to get back into the country,” he explained.

The coming ban and restrictions are expected to have an impact on colleges and universities in Maryland, which have numerous international students studying in Maryland’s colleges, including many who have already returned to their home countries for summer break. It is unclear whether they will be allowed back into the country to continue their studies next year.

Javier Marinkovic, a Ph.D. student at University of Maryland College Park, said Trump’s immigration policies regarding visas and travel bans have given international students a strong sense of unease.

“Multiple students at UMD have had their visas cancelled out of nowhere, and honestly I’ve already started thinking of escape plans if my visa gets cancelled,” said Marinkovic, who is from Chile.

At the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, 54 students last year were from countries included in the new travel ban, according to Cherie Parker, the school’s director of media relations.

“We are very concerned about the well-being of our international students, who are here for an education and contribute greatly to our communities,” said Mike Sandler, vice chancellor for communications and marketing for the University System of Maryland.

At the University of Maryland College Park, 185 students and 10 members of the faculty or scholars would be impacted by the ban, officials said.

Robert Koulish, a research professor and director of the undergraduate law programs at the University of Maryland, described Trump’s travel ban as shocking but no surprise.

During the first Trump presidency, the travel ban represented one of the administration’s “most egregious acts, along with family separation,” he said. He added that this time, “it might well pass through the courts.”

Irena Stein, owner of Alma Cocina Latina, a Venezuelan restaurant in Station North, said some of her staff had planned a trip to Venezuela this fall to photograph and interview people in different regions of the country to “recover food traditions that might be in danger of extinction, and to record the current realities of the lands of cacao and their recent resurgence.”

That trip is in danger now.

“Going back to Venezuela is not an option,” she said.

Stein, who heavily recruits Venezuelan chefs to her restaurant because “they grow up knowing those unique flavors” of that country, fears what will happen next.

“It puts the entire future of everything that we have built in jeopardy,” she said. “It’s absolutely horrendous because who knows what he will do next.”

Baltimore Banner reporter Ellie Wolfe and The Associated Press contributed to this story.