Staten Island leader fears Trump travel ban will thwart her charity’s mission

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Elissa Montanti wakes up every morning with a nagging sense of fear.

With President Donald Trump’s travel ban on 12 countries, Montanti is afraid her organization, the Global Medical Relief Fund, will not be able to help all the children around the globe who desperately need care.

Many of the children her organization helps live in impoverished African countries, Central and South America, and the Middle East. They are children who have lost the use of limbs or eyes, have been severely burned, or injured due to war, natural disaster or illness.

“I’m scared. Honestly, I really am, and I hope it (the travel ban) does not affect these innocent children in desperate need of care. The children do go back to their own country (after receiving medical treatment),” said Montanti, who often is referred to as “the angel of Staten Island.”

Since she founded the organization from her small apartment on Staten Island in 1997, Montanti, who is an Advance Woman of Achievement, has helped hundreds of children from all over the world get the medical care they often can’t receive in their own country.

"Robinson" came to the U.S. from Haiti and received medical treatment through the Global Medical Relief Fund.Courtesy of Elissa Montanti

From a blinded boy in Iraq, and a maimed 4-year-old from Gaza, to a group from Tanzania who were attacked for their limbs, she has secured necessary medical care for kids devastated by injuries.

“This ban means a child wouldn’t be able to get a (prosthetic) leg or an arm, or the surgery they need,” said Montanti.

Trump’s travel ban

On Wednesday, Trump reinstated a policy initiated in his first term that bans residents of 12 countries from visiting the United States, and those from seven other countries face restrictions, according to the Associated Press.

The ban, which takes effect Monday at 12:01 a.m., includes those from Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.

In addition, heightened restrictions will be placed on travelers from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela, reported the Associated Press.

Haiti is one of the countries the Global Medical Relief Fund has helped over the years.

“I was there a week after the earthquake (in 2010), and I brought back three kids,” she said. “And we helped about five other Haitian kids (at that time), and continue to help others (from Haiti).”

She noted there was at least one child from Haiti on the waiting list to receive treatment in the U.S. through the Global Medical Relief Fund.

Fear if more countries are added to the travel ban

Part of Montanti’s fear is that more countries -- more of those her organization serves -- will be added to the travel ban.

“I am praying that it will not affect the countries that we help, including Rwanda, Tanzania, (Eswatini), Guatemala, El Salvador, Colombia...,” she said.

“I need to definitely highlight that these kids go back. These kids are not in the same category of those who come illegally. These kids come through a medical visa, and they go back (after receiving medical treatment),” Montanti said.

Elissa Montanti became an Advance Woman of Achievement in 2011.Advance/SILive.com | Mike Matteo

“When I saw the travel ban, I just held my breath. I saw that the [majority of the] countries we are helping weren’t affected, and I hope to God, they’re not,” she added.

According to the Associated Press, Trump tied the ban to Sunday’s terror attack in Boulder, Colorado. He said it’s due to the dangers posed by some visitors who overstay visas. However, the suspect in that attack is from Egypt, a country that isn’t on Trump’s restricted list, according to the Associated Press.

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