The Trump administration’s tough policy stance has affected many immigrants in the United States, including Thais, some of whom have worked without the proper documentation.

Those messages were conveyed during a Facebook Live session conducted by Suthichai Yoon, digital journalist with the Nation Multimedia Group, with Thais living in the US to assess the impacts of Trump’s policy, which has been criticised as trying to send home as many immigrants as possible – if not all of them.

The US president has issued an executive order banning travellers from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from entering the US for 90 days and refugees for 120 days, excepting refugees from Syria, whom he would ban indefinitely.

Although Thais living in the US are not the target of the order, they are already being affected by the intensification of the immigration laws, a Thai restaurant owner identified as “Thip”, a US citizen by marriage, told Suthichai during an interview. Under the Barack Obama administration, immigration rules appeared to be relaxing, enabling Thais working without proper visas to enjoy loopholes by working in many businesses, particularly restaurants.

Thip said that her friends who ran restaurants in the US had informed her that they had already been affected by the policy, as staff without proper documentation had stopped coming to work because they were afraid of being caught and deported.

“Some of them are students who worked to earn income to live and for their families back home. Now they dare not work, so they are financially cut off. I feel pity for them as they came here to work because they are short of money. If they were wealthy, they would not have come,” she said.

The Trump policy has also made restaurant owners concerned about their own self interest, Thip said, as many had to stop hiring Thais who did not have proper work visas.

“Their selfishness is understood as their businesses would certainly be affected or shut down if immigration officials found out that they had hired staff without proper visas.”

Many Thais now want to move to Canada, where the government has opened its arms to foreigners including US citizens. However, Thip said Canada welcomed only US citizens, not people who held US green cards.

She recounted how her friend who lived in Florida had said that police had enforced immigration laws more intensively by setting up more checkpoints. Authorities reportedly would not listen to any explanation from people lacking the proper identification, who were immediately deported.

Customers at Thip’s restaurant, both Thais and Americans, have voiced disagreement with Trump’s immigration policies with some expressing doubts whether they could survive four years under the Trump government.

Suthichai and Thip pointed out that Trump and his family had been ridiculed on television shows, most prominently in high-profile Saturday Night Live skits.

Thip said she strongly recommended that Thais already in the US should work and save as much money as possible, but then go home. People who do not have a work visa should return immediately because if they are caught and deported, they would be blacklisted from re-entering the country, she added.

“And those who plan to come to the US either for work or study should think twice and wait until this government finishes its tenure or cancel their plans.”

Suthichai also read a comment from Facebook user Krissadapong from Miami who said 70 Thais had been arrested in recent raids in that city as a result of the intensified enforcement of immigration laws.

Trump’s foreign policy has been so confusing, going back and forth on different policy points, that even US diplomats have found it difficult to understand, Suthichai said, recalling talking to a US diplomat on a recent flight in a discussion that highlighted the uncertainty haunting US foreign policy.