On the recordJuly 22, 2020
When we heard of the Muslim ban being implemented, many New Yorkers, including our chairman, Congressman Nadler, rushed to JFK Airport to help families. What I witnessed there in many cases was, in fact, Muslim members of our Armed Forces were trying to be reunited with their mother, with their spouse, and they were being denied. As I entered the space, I was surrounded by Customs and Border Patrol officers, and we fought to make sure that these folks could unite. And so we witnessed the pain of a spouse without a husband, a son without a mother, a father without a child. Madam Speaker, this is not American. This is not American at all. But what was witnessed there and across the country was the best of our Nation, the spirit of our Nation, the fact that we would not be split along racial, ethnic, or religious lines.
