Democrats Introduce Bills To Overturn Trump Travel Ban
By Jennifer G. Hickey | April 11, 2019
On Wednesday, Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) and Rep. Judy Chu (D-CA) introduced companion bills to overturn President Trump’s executive order temporarily suspending immigration from high-risk countries. The executive order sought to prevent travelers from Iran, Libya, Syria, Somalia and Yemen from entering the United States. The administration asserted the ban was in the interest of national security given those nations’ ties to terrorist groups, while opponents claimed it was driven by religious animosity, thus naming it a “Muslim ban.”
The NO BAN Act also attempts to narrow presidential powers in an effort to prevent future presidents from taking similar action.
According to a summary released by Coons, the bill would:
- Immediately rescinding each version of the Muslim ban, as well as abuses of power harming refugees and individuals seeking asylum;
- Amending the Immigration and Nationality Act’s nondiscrimination provision to explicitly prohibit discrimination based on religion;
- Limit the President’s “overly broad authority” to issue future bans; and
- Provide a presumption in favor of granting humanitarian and family-based waivers.
Supported by a host of left-wing special interests from the ACLU and NAACP to Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the bicameral bills have little chance of advancing, a fact which Coons conceded in an interview on MSNBC.
An additional hurdle is the fact that Trump’s executive order was upheld 5-4 by the Supreme Court in 2018 with a majority of justices arguing the president was well within the law based on questions of national security.
The press conference, television appearances promoting the bill and Coons own words demonstrate that there is no limit to the length congressional Democrats will go to stymie and rollback any aspect of the administration’s immigration policies.
“This ban is family separation by another name. It is a stain on America’s reputation around the world that runs counter to our values and is hurting real people,” said Coons in a statement.