Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law issued the following statement after President Trump’s issued a new proclamation imposing travel restrictions on certain people traveling from 6 countries, including Nigeria, Sudan, Tanzania, Eritrea, Burma (Myanmar) and Kyrgyzstan.
“In no uncertain terms, we condemn this administration’s latest Africa ban. This new expansion of the travel ban is yet another example of a discriminatory policy that undermines rather than protects our national security. The restrictions imposed in this latest proclamation, focusing primarily on African nations, appear motivated by racial animus and intended to discriminate against people on the basis of race, religion and national origin. We can’t ignore the context in which these restrictions emerge; just several months ago, President Trump reportedly used derogatory remarks to describe African nations.
Clarke continued, “At every turn, this administration has weaponized immigration policy in order to lock out Black and brown people, and Muslims with almost surgical precision, all the while using false claims of national security as a justification. The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law will continue to use the courts to push back against dangerous policies that promote hate and xenophobia.”The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law along with co-counsel mounted litigationagainst the Trump administration against the first Muslim Ban and has also successfully opposed the administration’s attempt to expel Liberian American DED holders from the U.S. The Lawyers’ Committee supports the NO BAN Act, a critical civil rights bill pending in the House that would repeal the current travel bans and prevent future presidents from enacting similar discriminatory bans going forward.
