National Origin-Based Antidiscrimination for Nonimmigrants Act
Floor Speech
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Ms. JAYAPAL. Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of the NO BAN Act, and I thank Congresswoman Chu for her leadership.
Yes, let's get back to protecting America. That is what we want to do.
Madam Speaker, Anahita is an asylee from Iran. The last time she spoke to her father, he told her that, when she returned home, he would sit with her on the terrace and talk politics. That never happened. Due to Trump's Muslim ban, Anahita could not get travel documents to see her dad before he died or to mourn with her family.
Madam Speaker, for 4 years, families remained separated. That is not the America we want to protect.
American businesses and universities couldn't recruit top candidates, and our Nation's doors were closed to people seeking refuge.
President Biden rescinded the bans, but we must pass the NO BAN Act to prohibit any future President from issuing discriminatory bans.
Now, that day, I was in my first month here in Congress, when the Muslim ban was passed. I rushed to the airport, along with our chairman and many other Members of Congress. We worked with attorneys to file the national lawsuits that called for an emergency petition that blocked the President's order from taking effect.
We were also able, at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, to go onto the tarmac and stop a plane from taking off because of an emergency habeas from a judge there that allowed us to get two people back in who should have been here in the first place.
Madam Speaker, just imagine the hearts and souls of people whose lives were thrown into chaos, thinking that they were going to land in the United States with valid travel documents and then were turned away by a President who issued a Muslim ban. The reason we need this bill is to make sure that that can never happen again.
Madam Speaker, yes, we want to protect America's values. We believe that the way to do that is to pass the NO BAN Act.
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