US lawmakers present bill to prevent Trump's potential Muslim ban

Hedging their bets over a possible Donald Trump return to the White House, a group of Democratic lawmakers have reintroduced a bill to prevent future administrations from enacting Muslim bans.

Introduced by Senator Chris Coons and Congresswoman Judy Chu on Wednesday, the National Origin-Based Antidiscrimination for Nonimmigrants (NO BAN) Act would strengthen federal immigration law to prevent discrimination based on religion and to ensure that any use of the authority to suspend entry into the country is narrowly tailored.

"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 Chu, referring to restrictions ordered by then-President Trump soon after taking office in 2017 on entries to the US of refugees from several majority-Muslim nations.

Trump had threatened a "Muslim ban" before taking office in 2016 and is now seeking to return to the presidency for a second term.

'Senseless policy'

In a statement, Chu added that she was "so grateful" when the administration of Joe Biden, Trump's successor, took action on its first day in office in 2021 to rescind all versions of the ban, "but we can't risk letting prejudice against Muslims, or any other religious minority, become policy once again".

Coons said Trump's Muslim ban was "cruel and counterproductive."

"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," he added.

"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."

The bill was originally introduced by Coons and Chu in 2019. The bill passed the House of Representatives in both 2020 and 2021.

In 2021, the administration of Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the de facto Democratic candidate against Trump's return to the White House in this fall's elections, stated support of the legislation, calling the prior ban "a stain on our national conscience ... inconsistent with our long history of welcoming people of all faiths".