U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., said the new travel ban signed on Monday by President Trump lays out a more detailed, coordinated and clearer set of rules restricting entry of certain nationals from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
Conversely, Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., called the ban “inconsistent” with American values and “won’t keep America safe” from those seeking to do the country harm.
The new executive order — dubbed “Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States” — begins on March 16 and temporarily restricts the entry of certain nationals from the six Middle East countries; Iraq was previously included on the list but was taken off this time after negotiations between the two countries and a promise of further vetting by the Iraqis.
“The president laid out a sensible rationale for covering each country, explaining how these states fail to provide the information we need to vet their residents for terror ties,” said Toomey. “President Trump’s executive order does not set forth a religious test. It sets forth a national security test to protect the American people.”
Toomey said the executive order also specifies that any nation can remove itself from the list by sharing information on terrorists with the United States.
“In this way, today’s executive order is similar to the American SAFE Act, which I and a bipartisan majority of the House and Senate supported last Congress,” said Toomey.
The lawmaker said he was further pleased to see that Trump has taken into account concerns he (Toomey) raised about the previous order.
“For example, the new order wisely clarifies that green card holders and those who were granted visas for assisting our military will be able to enter the U.S.,” said Toomey.
“While I am still reviewing the details of today’s executive order and will closely monitor its implementation, it appears to lay out a more detailed, coordinated, and clearer set of rules that will hopefully yield less confusion about who can and cannot enter the country,” said Toomey.
For his part, Casey, a member of the National Security Working Group and former chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Near Eastern and South and Central Asian Affairs, said many of the country’s intelligence professionals and national security experts have indicated that blanket travel bans, which target individuals by country and religion, will not keep America safe, “but President Trump refuses to listen.”
“A Department of Homeland Security assessment, reported on by the Associated Press, found that ‘country of citizenship is unlikely to be a reliable indicator of potential terrorist activity,’” said Casey. “When the people who are charged with keeping our nation safe clearly state that a particular policy is ineffective, it makes no sense for the administration to pursue it.”
Furthermore, Casey said the Trump administration has not identified what, if any, current defect in the nation’s two-year, multi-agency vetting procedures this executive order is designed to fix. “Instead of attempting to fulfill a campaign promise to institute a ‘Muslim ban,’ President Trump should push for full funding of homeland security and law enforcement programs in order to give law enforcement the tools they need to keep America safe,” said Casey. “This new travel ban is inconsistent with our values and won’t keep America safe.”
U.S. Rep. Glenn Thompson, R-Pa., had not issued a statement in regards to the new ban as of press time Monday night.
