Carper Statement on President Trump’s Revised Executive Order on Refugee Resettlement, Ban of Immigrants from Muslim Majority Countries

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Tom Carper (D-Del.), a senior member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, released the following statement about President Trump’s revised executive order to block refugees and ban immigrants from Muslim majority countries.

“Just over a week after taking office, President Trump signed an executive order to deny refuge to thousands of Syrians seeking asylum and ban immigrants from several Muslim-majority countries. This executive order hurt families and businesses, caused chaos at our airports, jeopardized our national security, undercut diplomatic relations and, ultimately, failed to survive in federal court.

“The revised executive order signed by President Trump today may provide ten days for this ban and its implications to be reviewed by people hoping to travel to the United States, but it still 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. 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. This revised executive order still fails us on that front.”

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