On the recordJune 24, 2019
This Wednesday, June 26, marks the 1-year anniversary of the Supreme Court upholding President Trump's travel ban which suspended the issuance of immigrant and nonimmigrant visas to applicants from five Muslim-majority countries: Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen; plus Venezuela and North Korea. In upholding the travel ban, the court indicated that by including North Korea and Venezuela, the administration was not targeting only Muslim countries. In addition, the administration was creating a mechanism by which foreign nationals from those banned countries could be issued a waiver to enter the United States if: one, the applicant did not represent a security threat with their entry; or, two, if denying entry would cause undue hardship. One year later, we can evaluate whether the Trump administration has honored the court ruling. Mr. Speaker, from my experience with my constituents in Sacramento County, the resounding answer is ``no.'' In my district, a young girl named Omnia, who was born in Libya to an American mother and a Libyan father, was separated from her family for 2 years because of the travel ban. Her mother, an American citizen, took Omnia, who was then 2 years old, to the immigrant visa interview at the Embassy in Tunis, where the interview was only minutes long with no questions. Instead, the consular officer said the Embassy had all of the documents and everything was in order, but they could not issue the visa for the 2- year-old.…
