Opinion | Trump's travel ban is a moral stain. Congress can do more to stop it.

[Music] president trunk defending his controversial travel ban even as attorneys general from 16 states slamet is quote unconstitutional on American and unlawful protesters gathering in cities across the United States from New York to Boston Los Angeles and beyond it's not a Muslim family recovery prepared work it out

very nicely you see it in the airport you see it all over it's working out very nicely [Music] I see it as illegal unconstitutional and unamerican the Supreme Court has sided with the administration in this case they have upheld the travel ban here [Music] I think we need

to add another line in there yeah to help people understand that there's this waiver issue that we're addressing right in this paragraph right as soon as the Muslim ban went into effect thousands of people just received blanket denials of waivers before they even had a chance to make

the case for why they're eligible for a waiver in my heart I felt that we will be together in America as soon I'm a US citizen we were married what could go wrong Ismael al-ghazali is one of our clients in a class-action lawsuit that we filed immediately after

the Supreme Court upheld the Muslim ban love is not a person that will come and knock on your door love is gonna like a strong wind that blows everything so that's how I felt with me and my wife I was like I want to get married mom you

know so I'm here because of my family as a Muslim American citizen do really I have to go through this to have my family here he's standing up for thousands of people like him in demanding that there be a fair and meaningful process to be able to acquire

a waiver while we are putting up this fight in the courts we also understand that Congress has a role to play and that's why you know we're testifying before Congress in support of a bill that would really rein in this abuse of power it was introduced this spring

by Senator Coons and congresswoman Judy Chu and the bill would make it clear that you cannot discriminate on the basis of religion you know this is going to be the first time that members of Congress hear directly from people affected by the Muslim ban [Music] it's a dual

focus hearing it'll be on oversight of the travel ban and its impacts as well as the no ban act itself so there will be two panels the first one is a government panel with witnesses from state Homeland Security then panel 2 includes individuals who have been actually affected

as well as advocates exactly a loyalist is male al-ghazali is Yemeni American and his wife is unable to come to the US with their child and the fact pattern here with this smile and his families to focus on family separation absolutely there was such education and concern about

family separation happening at the border and I most folks I've talked to in Delaware unaware that there are hundreds and hundreds of families separated where there are stranded spouses and children in other parts of the world who are waiting the House Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on immigration and citizenship

and the House Foreign Affairs Committee subcommittee and oversight an investigation will come to order for this joint hearing without objection I will preside over today's hearing a consular officer will automatically consider that applicant for a waiver based upon the criteria set forth in the proclamation these criteria are

the issuance of the visa is in the national interest denial of a visa would cause the applicant undue hardship and the applicant poses no national security or public safety threat States the people that come from the countries that are on this travel ban only make up 8% of

the Muslim population in the world so if the intent of the Trump administration has my Democrat colleagues contend is to ban Muslims they're doing a pretty darn poor job of it one make it clear to everyone that not everyone in the discriminated class has to be discriminated against

in order for something to be discriminatory if you are from Iran and I know a lot of people who are a nians amazing people who are contributing massively to our country I actually I've I adore some of my best friends are Iranian it's a great nation is my

al all ghazali is a US citizen who was born in Yemen and currently lives in Brooklyn New York thanks good afternoon Congress member thanks for giving me the opportunity to share this with you it hurts me so much that it's been now more than a year since I've

seen my family hand call it in Rob and I were separated by thousands of miles because of the Muslim bed the interview did not go as we expected it didn't even last five minutes they returned hand passport and said our visa is being denied because of the Muslim

ban I think we can all agree that we don't want to ban babies and grandmothers that doesn't make us safer and we need a policy that is smarter and it actually is not doing harm to our own friends and neighbors I still have hope that we will be

together again as a family here and will become a nurse my son and daughter will go to school and pursue their own dreams I pray that you will find it in your heart to allow families like mine to be together this is the first hearing on the Muslim

ban itself but it's also only the second time we believe that Congress has had a hearing very clearly focused on the civil rights challenges facing the American Muslim community we hope it will lay the groundwork for congressional action on the no van Act which is the bill that

would overturn the Muslim ban and prevent future presidents from enacting a discriminatory ban like this again often an important idea of good idea even a prophetic idea like this one has to be introduced has to be improved has to have a hearing has to have a markup and

often it won't pass in the first Congress in which it's introduced it may very well get a vote on the floor of the house that may very well pass the house in this Congress but like many other important pieces of legislation it will likely die a slow death

here in the Senate so until there is a change of heart or a change of control in the Senate I think it's unlikely that this will pass legislatively but that doesn't mean it's I'm not still worth hearing from the actual American families influenced by this immoral travel ban

[Music] [Music] you [Music]