It’s difficult these days to keep track of all the atrocities Donald Trump has committed as president. During his first days in office, he instituted a ban on travelers from majority-Muslim countries entering the United States, something he promised to do as a presidential candidate but now says was not the purpose of his ban.
I ran on a promise to end the President’s hateful Muslim ban.
And tomorrow we will introduce a bill do just that. No one should be denied basic rights because of their religion, race or national origin. #NoBanAct ✊?
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) April 9, 2019
After several revisions, Trump expanded the ban to include two non-Muslim majority countries and managed to whitewash it enough to get it through the Supreme Court. Democrats, however, are noting the dire consequences of the ban and fighting back in Congress with a bill to end Trump’s policy.
Newsweek explained the bill and its origins:
‘Called the National Origin-Based Antidiscrimination for Nonimmigrants Act, or “No Ban Act” for short, the civil rights legislation seeks to put an end to the Trump administration’s travel ban, which targets several Muslim-majority countries—including Syria, Iran, Yemen, Libya and Somalia—with limited sanctions also imposed against North Korea and Venezuela.’
When we don't stand up against racist and unAmerican policies like the #MuslimBan, then we are saying a whole community doesn't belong. This type of "othering" is wrong and hurts our communities. Haven't we learned this already?
#NoBanAct https://t.co/TMZUVKXnSJ
— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) April 10, 2019
Republicans may be the party of the Religious Right, but in this case, the Democrats have the backing of the religious community. More than 400 faith-based advocacy groups have joined forces to support the repeal of the ban.
‘Today, a diverse coalition of close to 400 civil rights, faith, national security and community organizations announced their support for the National Origin-Based Antidiscrimination for Nonimmigrants Act (“NO BAN Act”), a historic civil rights bill that would end the Muslim Ban and prevent faith-based discrimination in immigration. The organizations sent a joint letter to Congress endorsing the bill ahead of its bicameral introduction on Wednesday, April 10, 2019, by Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) and Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA). The members will host a press conference to announce the bill that will take place at the Senate Swamp on Wednesday, April 10 at 9:15 am featuring impacted individuals, faith leaders and members of Congress.’
WATCH LIVE: Today we're introducing the #NoBanAct to fight for families being torn apart by @POTUS's Muslim ban. This discriminatory policy does not reflect the core values of our nation. Let's #BandTogether to #RepealTheBan. https://t.co/h3vXML5biJ
— Senator Chris Coons (@ChrisCoons) April 10, 2019
The Church World Service and Shoulder to Shoulder, two activist groups who support religious freedom and faith, are reminding religious communities that the family separation policy and the travel ban were instituted to achieve the same goal: separating families from marginalized communities due to racism and fear.
‘Together, the Muslim ban on travel from several Muslim-majority countries, asylum ban that wrongfully and illegally blocks people who cross between ports of entry from applying for asylum, and refugee ban that seeks to dismantle the resettlement program deny vulnerable families their fundamental right to safety, condemn them to return to unfathomable danger, and prolong family separation. To restrict thousands of people based on discrimination forsakes our nation’s ideals of compassion, hospitality, and welcome.’
The #NOBANAct, intro’d today by #WomensAgenda champions @RepJudyChu @ChrisCoons wouldn’t just repeal Trump’s Muslim, asylum, & refugees bans—it would limit the ability for this or any future admin to do something like it ever again.
Let’s #RepealTheBan: https://t.co/v03hqWYbAu
— Women's March (@womensmarch) April 10, 2019
Featured image via Flickr by Gage Skidmore under a Creative Commons license
