WASHINGTON – After President Donald Trump re-issued his harmful restriction on refugees and immigrants from six Muslim-majority nations in Africa and the Middle East, U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) joined U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and 14 senators on Tuesday in introducing legislation to reverse the executive order and block its implementation. Booker and Murphy are both members of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Specifically, the bill – which is similar to legislation Booker, Murphy and their colleagues introduced in January to block the first iteration of the Trump administration’s travel ban – would withhold funding to enforce the executive order. The bill also declares the executive order illegal based on the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act, which banned discrimination against immigrants on the basis of national origin.
“President Trump’s executive order is un-American, unacceptable and makes our country less safe,” said Booker. “This order violates some of our most deeply held values and Congress must act as a check on this re-branded, but nonetheless destructive and reckless Muslim ban.”
“Our job is to keep the American people safe, but this hateful ban puts lives at risk. ISIS is already using President Trump’s order and the offensive rhetoric that defined his campaign to recruit more terrorists in the Middle East and indoctrinate lone-wolves over the internet,” said Murphy. “A report by Donald Trump’s own administration found there’s no national security justification for it. Congress must pass this bill and block it now.”
Additional cosponsors include U.S. Senators Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Tom Carper (D-Del.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.).
