From Chris Coons’ press office:
Sen. Coons: “This ban only serves to make us less safe by giving ISIS a propaganda tool, and it is a direct attack on the values that make our country a beacon for inclusiveness and tolerance around the world”
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, yesterday introduced a bill, led by Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), to block President Trump’s harmful restriction on refugees and immigrants from certain Muslim-majority nations in the Middle East. Specifically, the bill would withhold any funding to enforce the executive order and declares it illegal based on the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act, which banned discrimination against immigrants on the basis of national origin.
Original cosponsors of Murphy’s bill also include U.S. Senators Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.). Murphy’s bill compliments two measures set to be introduced by U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.).
“Pres. Trump’s executive order is illegal, unconstitutional, and un-American,” said Coons. “The consequences are immediate and devastating: lawful U.S. residents are being turned away from their homes, innocent refugees fleeing war have nowhere to turn, and close allies that we depend on to fight terrorism are rightly outraged. This ban only serves to make us less safe by giving ISIS a propaganda tool, and it is a direct attack on the values that make our country a beacon for inclusiveness and tolerance around the world. Congress must act immediately to block the ban or we risk religious discrimination becoming enshrined in law.”