In the two years since President Donald Trump first enacted his cruel Muslim ban, countless families have been needlessly separated and anti-Muslim rhetoric and violence have been allowed to flourish. Since Trump has made clear he won’t end this inhumane ban, members of Congress are taking action by introducing the NO BAN Act.
The NO BAN Act will ensure no one can be banned from our country based on religious discrimination ever again and puts in place vital protections against future discriminatory bans. The lead sponsor in the Senate is U.S. Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.). In the U.S. House of Representatives, the measure will be sponsored by U.S. Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.).
Please urge your members of Congress to protect religious freedom for all and equal treatment under the law by passing the NO BAN Act.
Americans United joined hundreds of other national, state and local organizations to endorse the NO BAN Act in a joint April 8 letter to members of Congress
“Regrettably, the Muslim Ban validates the worst stereotypes about Muslims; that they are inherently foreign and violent and pose such a threat to the United States they should be banned,” the letter reads. “The ban on Muslims comes after generations of politicians hostile to religious minorities have attempted to ban Jews, Catholics, and Latter-day Saints. Congress now has an opportunity to take action against the Muslim Ban and this troubling history by sending a strong message that our nation rejects religious bigotry.”
Trump’s own words made it clear that the ban was driven by hostility toward Muslims, and he used crude, deliberate mischaracterizations about their faith to promote it. The Muslim ban discriminates. It says how someone prays is a reason the government can ban them from coming to the United States. It excludes people from our nation and from full participation in our society. That should offend us all.
And that’s why Americans United fought the Muslim ban in court. Though the Supreme Court, in a separate case, allowed the ban to remain in effect for now, we’re still fighting on behalf of our clients. We are convinced that the ban runs afoul of our nation’s fundamental commitment to religious freedom for all.
We also know that the ban divides families and creates heartache and pain. Our clients are six individuals – all of them U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents – whose relatives were blocked from coming to the United States because of the ban. Our clients joined the thousands of spouses who were separated, elderly parents who were denied the ability to get loving care from their children, family members who could not visit their sick relatives and grandchildren who were cut off from their grandparents.
The Muslim ban also feeds stereotypes, fuels intolerance and fosters anti-Muslim bias. We are a better nation than this, and the NO BAN Act will go a long way toward removing the stain of religious discrimination that has defiled our country in recent years.
American history teaches us a sad lesson: Immigration laws have too often been used to promote bigotry by denying people of certain backgrounds and faiths from settling in America or even visiting here. The NO BAN Act will help ensure that we don’t repeat those mistakes again.
Please contact your members of Congress today and urge then to pass the NO BAN Act.
