House Speaker Ryan has
also denounced a ban on Muslims, noting that it is ``not conservatism''
to impose a religious test. A bipartisan majority of the Senate
Judiciary Committee agreed in December 2015 when it passed my amendment
confirming that ``the United States must not bar individuals from
entering into the United States based on their religion.''
The chaos and confusion caused by this Executive order at our
airports in the United States as well as around the world highlights
the recklessness of this administration's attempt to bar people based
on their religion and national origin. The devastation this is causing
to lawful immigrants and refugees fleeing violence is immeasurable. I
fear for my constituents who are lawful permanent residents of the
United States who also happen to be nationals of one of the seven
targeted countries. Due to the widespread outrage expressed by
thousands of concerned citizens and legal challenges across the
country, the Trump administration has now clarified that the Executive
order should not apply to legal permanent residents. But there
continues to be an understandable fear that the Trump administration
may again attempt to bar them from this country. Like them, I fear that
the Trump administration may again seek to bar lawful immigrants from
returning to their homes, work, and families in Vermont. I also fear
for the young Somali refugee in Vermont who has been patiently waiting
for the completion of the resettlement process so that his pregnant
wife and young son will be saved from the squalor of a refugee camp and
reunited with him in Vermont. And the man from Sudan who has been
waiting for his two young sons to finally be granted their visas to
join him and the rest of their family. And the husband whose Libyan
wife was recently granted a visa and has been waiting for the
International Organization for Migration to arrange her flight to the
United States. I am concerned for these families and for so many others
in Vermont and around the country. Americans are bound together by our shared ideals.
Keywords matched
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