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Delaware ACLU vows to fight new travel ban

Delaware Public Media

The leader of Delaware’s American Civil Liberties Union says President Trump’s revised travel ban is just as unconstitutional as its predecessor.  

 

“We’re just as opposed to this one as we are to the last one. It’s blatant religious discrimination. There’s no national security need to actually have this ban” said Kathleen MacRae, executive director of the Delaware ACLU.

 

She said the civil rights organization will almost certainly be filing lawsuits in the coming days arguing this new travel ban is based on religion, not national security, and is therefore unconstitutional.    

She cites a Department of Homeland Security report saying citizens from the six majority-Muslim countries listed in Trump’s latest executive order pose no special threat to the United States.

 

President Trump’s latest travel ban is similar to the previous one he signed in late January. It temporarily blocks visas from being issued to citizens of six Muslim-majority nations for 90 days. The countries are Syria, Yemen, Iran, Somalia, Sudan and Libya.

 

This latest iteration no longer includes Iraq and it only applies to new visas being issued. Plus, Syrian refugees aren’t barred indefinitely.

 

But those changes aren’t enough to satisfy MacRae.

 

“The only way to really fix this situation is to give up on trying to ban people from Muslim countries all together,” she said.

 

Sen. Chris Coons (D-Delaware) is also calling for Trump to give up on the travel ban.

 

"“I am concerned that the President continues to try to deliver on a campaign promise to create a ‘Muslim ban,’ even though members of both parties have condemned it," Coons said in a statement on Monday. 

 

He added the U.S. already has a stringent vetting process for refugees, and this new travel ban makes America less safe by giving extremist groups fodder for propaganda. 

 

Sen. Tom Carper (D-Delaware) says Trump's new executive order "suffers from the same fundamental flaws as the first one."

 

"Categorically denying entry to a group of people on the basis of their country of origin is uninformed policy that does not make our country safer," said Carper in a statement Monday. "Moreover, no citizens from the countries targeted by this wrongheaded effort have committed deadly attacks against Americans on U.S. soil since at least 1975. We can fortify our refugee and immigrant vetting process, and keep Americans safe, without breaking with nation’s principles and denying entry to people on the basis of their religion and nationality,”

 

Meanwhile, there’s still a question of what happens to the ACLU’s 12 court cases against the original travel ban.

 

The executive order signed Monday revokes the January 27 version of the ban. And that could make all legal cases against it moot.

 

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