“This legislation puts important checks and balances on future executives that we did not know we needed until Trump and Stephen Miller came along.”
The No Ban Act (H.R. 1333) moved forward today after a mark-up hearing in the House Judiciary Committee, with floor action expected shortly. The legislation is a response to President Trump’s repeated attempts to use religion, race and national origin as the basis for blanket bans on visa issuance and legal immigration for certain groups, including Muslims, Africans and others.
The legislation places guardrails on executive power to issue such bans in the future, requiring that any bans be temporary and have rigorous congressional oversight. It also strengthens the anti-discrimination protections in U.S. immigration law to prevent discrimination based on religion.
The following is a statement by Douglas Rivlin, Director of Communication for America’s Voice:
Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free is part of our national philosophy, and a statement of who we aspire to be. It does not include clauses to exclude people based on religious affiliation, race, gender, or national origin.
President Trump took a sledgehammer to America’s asylum, refugee and immigration systems — all without engaging Congress —and this legislation puts important checks and balances on future executives that we did not know we needed until Trump and Stephen Miller came along.
As the Republican Party aligns behind nationalists like Miller and Tucker Carlson to assert their vision of America’s future, the safeguards in the No Ban Act are necessary to protect our democracy and ideals from such attacks. We support H.R. 1333 moving forward without poison pill amendments and onto passage in the House, Senate and signing into law.
