Rep. Rashida Tlaib said Wednesday that Congress had sent a message to Muslims that 'you are welcome here' after the House voted for legislation that would prevent actions like President Trump's Muslim ban.
The House on Wednesday passed the 'No Ban Act,' which would limit the president's ability to to suspend or restrict the entry into the U.S. of a 'class of aliens.'
'I want to really be very loud and very clear and sending a message to every Muslim and African person here and around the world that you are welcome here. And the United States of America,' said Tlaib, who famously called to 'impeach the mother******' in reference to Trump at the start of her term in 2019.
U.S. Representative Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), with House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) and Rep. Andre Carson (D-IN), speaks to reporters about proposed legislation to make it more difficult for future U.S. presidents to institute immigration bans, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington. ''I want to really be very loud and very clear and sending a message to every Muslim and African person here and around the world that you are welcome here,' said Tlaib
She unloaded on Trump's administrative actions Wednesday, as the House once again passed legislation it also passed under Trump – when the president certainly would have vetoed it if it ever reached his desk.
'The Congress United States of House of Representatives took action to ensure racist and dangerous bans like The Muslim and African ban will be no more,' she said. 'Today the passage of the no ban app or ban as is showing our immigrant neighbors and refugees everywhere. The House Democrats will not tolerate racist immigration policies,' she said.
The bill passed on a 218-208 vote.
Republicans bashed the move. Rep. Tom McClintock of California said it would harm the president's ability to 'protect against threats.'
Trump called for a Muslim ban during the 2016 campaign
QUEENS, NEW YORK - FEBRUARY 3: The New York Immigrant Coalition protests President Trump's executive order to ban immigration from seven muslim countries by holding jJummah, the muslim Friday prayer, in the parking lot of Terminal 4 at JFK International Airport on February 3, 2017
Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.), who also defended Trump when Democrats brought up a resolution to condemn his call for lawmakers to 'go back' to the countries they came from, said the bill would make the U.S. vulnerable.
'The last thing we should be doing as a nation is making it easier for terrorists in Iran, Iraq, Syria and other terrorist harboring nations to travel to the United States,' said Steube.
President Joe Biden reversed the travel restrictions from the Trump administration in one of his first moves in office, easing limits on Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen, as well as North Korea and some government officials from Venezuela. But Democrats say Congress has a responsibility to prevent future administrations from enacting similarly broad restrictions.
The bill passed the House by a vote of 218-208. It is unlikely to advance in the evenly split Senate, with Republicans overwhelmingly opposed.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., listens as his panel holds a markup of a bill to create a commission to study and address social disparities in the African American community today. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Rep. Jerrold Nadler, the Democratic chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said presidents from both parties have used their authority to exclude narrow groups of people from entering the U.S, such as certain North Korean officials. 'But former President Trump abused this authority, twisting it in ways that were never intended.'
The White House announced its support for the measure earlier this week. 'The prior Administration´s haphazard misuse of this authority highlights the need for reasonable constraints,' it said.
Trump had proposed a broad, all-encompassing Muslim ban during the presidential campaign. Within a week of him taking office in early 2017, the first travel ban was announced with little notice, causing chaos at airports and sparking protests across the nation.
The Trump administration was forced to revise its original order twice to resolve legal problems concerning due process, implementation and exclusive targeting of Muslim nations.
In 2018, the Supreme Court upheld the ban in a 5-4 decision. It determined that the ban was within a U.S. president´s considerable authority over immigration and responsibility for keeping the nation safe.
Republicans said Trump´s actions were not a Muslim ban. Rather, he was seeking to secure the United States from terrorists. They said the ban was limited to countries that were previously designated by Congress or prior administrations as posing national security risks.
They also noted that the ban affected only a fraction of Muslim-majority countries.
'Do not listen to repetitions and lies about Muslim bans when it is not true,' said Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas.
'The president said he was going to impose a Muslim ban, and he did,' Nadler countered.
Under the House bill, sponsored by Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., the secretaries of state and homeland security must first determine that the entry of certain aliens would undermine national security or public safety before the president could order a temporary travel restriction.
Republicans called that requirement a 'constitutional absurdity.'
'You know, in this bill, the president may only act if the secretary of state allows him to act, and that is backwards,' said Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz.
The House also passed a bill that requires the Department of Homeland Security to ensure that people with valid travel documents who present themselves at the border, airports or other points of entry can communicate with counsel and other interested parties if they are subjected to prolonged inspection by agents with U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Republicans took issue with the focus of both bills and sought to highlight a surge of migrants trying to cross into the U.S. at the southern border, blaming Biden for policies they say are responsible.
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