Nearly 40,000 people have landed in the United States from China on almost 280 flights since President Donald Trump’s February 2 travel ban on mainland China, a collection of travel data reveals.
A New York Times report details flight records collected from China-based VariFlight and U.S.-based MyRadar and FlightAware that show a continued flow of arrivals from China — where the coronavirus originated — even after Trump’s travel ban.
The travel data finds that since Trump’s travel ban, close to 40,000 people landed in the U.S. from China. Since New Year’s Eve, about 430,000 people landed in the U.S. on direct flights from China — thousands of which traveled directly from Wuhan, China, while mostly arriving in California, New York, Illinois, Washington, Michigan, and New Jersey.
All of these states have now become highly affected coronavirus outbreak zones, along with New Orleans, Louisiana. Of those 430,000 people who landed in the U.S. from China since New Year’s Eve, more than 380,000 came in January on more than 1,300 direct flights.
A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson told the Times that Trump’s travel ban has cut passenger flights from China by 99 percent.
A map shows flights traveling across the North Pacific Ocean from China, South Korea, Taiwan, and Japan to the U.S. and Canada on April 5. (Screenshot via VariFlight.com)
The arrival of people from China to U.S. states like New York and California has continued mainly thanks to exemptions in Trump’s travel ban which allow chain migrants — some relatives of American citizens — to still enter the country with minimal screenings at airports.
Travel data obtained by the Times reveal that about 279 flights from China have landed in the U.S. since the travel ban took effect on February 2. In the first half of January, before any temperature screenings were enacted, roughly 4,000 people landed in the U.S. from Wuhan, with 19 of those flights landing in New York or California.
In addition to his travel bans on China, Iran, and Europe, Trump has said he is considering a travel ban on Brazil where now more than 10,500 nationals have coronavirus and nearly 500 have already died. As Breitbart News reported, daily flights from Brazil’s largest airport, Sao Paulo Guarulhos International Airport, have continued into states like Florida, Texas, Georgia, and Massachusettes.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.
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