The U.S. House of Representatives July 22 passed the National Origin-Based Antidiscrimination for Nonimmigrants (NO BAN) Act, important legislation that responds to President Donald Trump’s cruel and capricious Muslim Ban.
The legislation passed 233-183 on a largely party-line vote. It is designed to ensure that no one can be banned from the United States based on religion or national origin, and it puts in place vital protections against future discriminatory bans.
Sponsored in the House by U.S. Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.) and in the Senate by U.S. Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), the legislation (H.R. 2214) reiterates the idea that an entire class of people can’t be banned from America based on their religion or place of origin.
While campaigning for president in 2015 and ’16, Trump vowed to ban Muslims from the U.S. Immediately after taking office in January 2017, he implemented a Muslim Ban, the third version of which the U.S. Supreme Court has so far allowed to remain in effect, although Americans United and other organizations continue to fight it in court.
Earlier this year, when Trump announced he was expanding the Muslim Ban to include restrictions on more countries, AU President and CEO Rachel Laser blasted him in a statement to the media.
“It was un-American when President Trump proposed a Muslim Ban from the campaign trail, it was un-American when he first implemented a Muslim Ban three years ago, and it’s un-American today to expand the Muslim Ban to more countries and cruelly separate even more families,” Laser said. “Engaging in religious discrimination to ban people because of their faith fundamentally violates our country’s constitutional principle of religious freedom.”
