Foster, Underwood back bill to rescind Trump's 'racist Muslim ban'

Will County area members of the U.S. House of Representatives helped pass a bill aiming to reverse the Trump Administration's travel ban on many Muslim-majority countries.

The House passed the National Origin-Based Antidiscrimination for Nonimmigrants Act to reverse the executive orders, according to a news release.

U.S. Rep. Bill Foster, D-Naperville, said in a statement that the administration has targeted immigrant communities with "bigoted rhetoric and cruel policies." Foster said it was time for Congress to "take a stand for the principles our nation of immigrants was founded upon."

“I was proud to vote in favor of the NO BAN Act which would immediately rescind President Trump’s racist Muslim Ban and amend federal immigration law to explicitly prohibit discrimination based on religion," Foster said in the statement.

U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood, D-Naperville, co-sponsored the bill and argued it restores the separation of powers by limiting "overly broad executive authority" on the issue of future travel bans, according to a statement. Underwood also said the legislation prohibits discrimination on the basis of religion.

“From Day One, this Administration has advanced a discriminatory policy toward Muslims — a policy that separates families, does nothing to make our country safer, and does not reflect northern Illinois values,” Underwood said in her statement. “I’m proud to support the passage of the NO BAN Act, which affirms our commitment to civil rights and the ideals on which our country was founded: that our government does not discriminate based on religion.”

Nearly 400 organizations, including the National Council of Churches, the Interfaith Alliance, the NAACP and the National Immigration Law Center, among others, supported the NO BAN Act, according to a news release.

The travel ban was challenged in court, but in 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court narrowly upheld the administration's power to implement the executive orders and rejected claims of anti-Muslim bias.