Almost immediately after taking office in 2017, President Trump signed an executive order banning travel from seven different countries on the grounds that those departing from them couldn’t be properly vetted, and national security could therefore be put at risk.
While the travel ban policy was extremely controversial and spurred a series of legal challenges, it was ultimately upheld by the Supreme Court — but that isn’t stopping Democrats from trying to do away with it once and for all.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) made that clear in a statement on Monday, declaring that, “House Democrats continue to stand opposed to President Trump’s cruel, un-American travel ban in all of its iterations.”
“In the coming weeks, the House Judiciary Committee will mark up and bring to the Floor the NO BAN Act to prohibit religious discrimination in our immigration system and limit the President’s ability to impose such biased and bigoted restrictions,” she continued.
Trump to broaden ban
The current iteration of the travel ban includes the countries of Syria, Iran, Libya, Yemen, Somalia, North Korea and Venezuela, but the Wall Street Journal reported that Trump administration may broaden the list to include Eritrea, Tanzania, Sudan, Nigeria, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, and Belarus. It’s not clear whether travelers from all of those countries would be subject to a full ban or simply a heightened level of scrutiny.
Pelosi pushed back on efforts to expand the ban’s reach, stating, “Today, reports indicate that the Administration is once again preparing to expand its dangerous travel ban, threatening key international relationships and jeopardizing our ability to fight terrorism and extremism at home and abroad.”
“Despite the Administration’s hateful policies and dangerous rhetoric, this fundamental truth remains: immigrants make America more American,” Pelosi said. Exactly why this would be cease to be the case following an expansion of the travel ban was not explained.
Pelosi invokes Reagan
As she drew her commentary to a close, the San Francisco Democrat pointed to a quote from former President Ronald Reagan in an attempt to bolster her argument.
“In his last address as President, Ronald Reagan warned that ‘If we ever close the door to new Americans, our leadership in the world would soon be lost.’ House Democrats are working tirelessly to uphold our role as a global leader and a beacon of hope and opportunity for countless people around the world,’” Pelosi stated.
Following the Supreme Court’s 2018 decision to uphold his administration’s travel policy, Trump issued a statement on why he believed it to be so critical.
“In this era of worldwide terrorism and extremist movements bent on harming innocent civilians, we must properly vet those coming into our country,” the president said.
“This ruling is also a moment of profound vindication following months of hysterical commentary from the media and Democratic politicians who refuse to do what it takes to secure our border and our country,” he further opined.
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