August 8, 2024 - WASHINGTON, D.C. — On Wednesday, U.S. Senators Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, and Border Safety, and Chris Coons (D-Del.) as well as Representative Judy Chu (D-Calif.-28) reintroduced the National Origin-Based Antidiscrimination for Nonimmigrants (NO BAN) Act, legislation to prevent future Muslim bans similar to the ones enacted by former President Trump. The bill would explicitly prohibit religious discrimination in our immigration laws and ensure that any use of the President’s authority to suspend entry into the country would be based on specific and credible facts, and be narrowly tailored to address a compelling government interest.

Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.)

During his 2016 presidential campaign, Trump promised to ban Muslim immigrants from the United States. Upon taking office, he tried to enact bans that were repeatedly struck down by the courts until the conservative majority of the Supreme Court ultimately upheld a much-altered version of the ban in a 5-4 vote. These bans caused widespread panic and kept families apart. While President Biden reversed these bans, the threat of their revival remains. This bill would prevent such discriminatory actions in the future. 

“No President should have the power to ban travel to the United States based on bias against certain religions or countries,” said Senator Padilla. “Sadly, that’s exactly what we witnessed during the Trump administration in the Muslim bans, which Trump has promised to revive and expand if he were to be reelected. These discriminatory bans undermine American values as a nation of immigrants. We must pass the NO BAN Act to put permanent safeguards in place so these types of hateful abuses of power never happen again.”

“Former President Trump’s Muslim ban was cruel and counterproductive,” said Senator Coons. “It tore apart families; led to the detention of people at airports for hours with limited access to food, water, or legal representation; and violated the very fabric of who we are as a country. We must ensure that this senseless policy is never repeated and that no elected official acts on fear and prejudice to discriminate based on religion or nationality. That is why I’m reintroducing the NO BAN Act to prevent future discriminatory travel bans and make sure our nation lives up to its highest ideals.” 

“A hateful stain on our nation, Trump’s Muslim ban was inspired by bigotry and Islamophobia and did lasting damage to the families it separated,” said Representative Chu. “I was so grateful when the Biden-Harris administration took action on its first day to rescind all versions of this ban, but we can’t risk letting prejudice against Muslims, or any other religious minority, become policy once again. I am joining Senator Coons and my Democratic colleagues to once again introduce the NO BAN Act to update our laws, make certain future presidents cannot ban people solely because of their religion, and require evidence of national security threats to exist before broad-based travel bans are implemented. I urge our Republican colleagues to respect religious liberty and join us in sending this legislation to President Biden’s desk for his signature.”

“We welcome the reintroduction of a policy rooted in the highest American aspirations of equality, religious freedom, and refuge from tyrannical leaders,” said Sumayyah Waheed, Senior Policy Counsel, Muslim Advocates. “We remember clearly the hate, chaos, and devastating family separation resulting from former President Trump’s Muslim and Africa bans – effects that remain unresolved to this day. Every day, people seeking safety at our borders are forced to face unlawful, dehumanizing, debilitating, and even lethal barriers to doing so. With the reintroduction of the NO BAN Act, we hope to check discriminatory and cruel abuses of presidential power at our borders. We urge Members in both houses to swiftly pass this bill.”

“The Muslim Ban is a stain on our nation’s history and was a cruel betrayal of our values and moral obligations,” said Naureen Shah, Deputy Director of Government Affairs and Policy for Immigration, American Civil Liberties Union. “We welcome the reintroduction of the NO BAN Act, and urge Congress to pass this critical legislation. Xenophobia and anti-Muslim hate have no place in our country, and it’s time our laws reflect that.”

Specifically, the NO BAN Act would:

• Expand the nondiscrimination provisions in the Immigration and Nationality Act to include religious discrimination, and extend them to the issuance of non-immigrant visas and benefits;
• Require that any travel restriction imposed under the Immigration and Nationality Act be based on specific and credible facts, and be narrowly tailored to address a compelling government interest; and
• Require notice to Congress within 48 hours of instituting a ban and follow-up reporting.

The NO BAN Act was originally introduced by Senator Coons and Representative Chu in 2019, and Senator Padilla cosponsored the bill last Congress. The bill passed the U.S. House of Representatives in both 2020 and 2021. In 2021, the Biden-Harris administration issued a statement in support of the legislation, noting that the prior “bans were a stain on our national conscience and are inconsistent with our long history of welcoming people of all faiths.”

The NO BAN Act is cosponsored in the Senate by Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.), Tom Carper (D-Del.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Angus King (I-Maine), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).  

The NO BAN Act has received endorsements from numerous immigrants’ rights organizations, faith-based organizations, and civil rights organizations, including Muslim Advocates, MPower Change Action Fund, National Immigration Law Center, American Civil Liberties Union, National Iranian American Council, Emgage Action, American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), Bend the Arc: Jewish Action, Union for Reform Judaism, National Partnership for New Americans, Quixote Center, Immigrant Legal Resource Center, The Advocates for Human Rights, America Indivisible, Lawyers for Good Government (L4GG), African Communities Together (ACT), Acacia Center for Justice, Alianza Americas, Win Without War, Chispa, League of Conservation Voters, Asylum Seeker Advocacy Project (ASAP), Project ANAR, Immigrants Act Now, Global Refuge, Asian Americans Advancing Justice, Church World Service, American Humanist Association & Center for Freethought Equality, MPAC, Brennan Center for Justice, Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition, Estrella del Paso (Formerly Diocesan Migrant and Refugee Services Inc), Americans for Immigrant Justice, GALEO Impact Fund, Immigrant Defenders Law Center, Qodiva, and California Immigrant Policy Center.

In 2021, Senator Padilla introduced a pair of bills to prevent future Muslim bans and safeguard rights for those with legal status in the United States. In addition to the NO BAN Act, Padilla introduced the Access to Counsel Act to ensure that U.S. citizens, green card holders, and others with valid visas are able to consult with an attorney, family member, or other interested party to seek assistance if they are detained by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) at airports or other ports of entry. 

Full text of the bill is available here. 

A section-by-section summary of the bill is available here.
Source: Senator Alex Padilla