J Street Rejects Trump Administration’s Travel Ban 2.0 and Ongoing Efforts to Demonize Immigrants

Washington, DC – Following the Trump Administration’s announcement that it will fully suspend travel from 12 nations and partially suspend travel from seven others, J Street Director of Government Affairs Hannah Morris issued the following statement:

“J Street strongly rejects the Trump Administration’s ongoing efforts to demonize immigrants and politicize the US immigration system while catastrophically failing to address the very real issues the majority of Americans face. These nonsensical blanket travel bans – echoing President Trump’s first-term ‘Muslim Ban’ – undermine the US’s image as a welcoming nation, and will only serve to punish legitimate travel for tourism, education, work, family reunion and immigration purposes.

Following two extremely painful weeks for the Jewish community, it is also infuriating and hurtful that President Trump is once again seeking to use antisemitism as a pretext to pursue this longstanding illiberal, anti-immigrant agenda. If the Trump Administration truly wants to make Jewish Americans safer, he can start by firing the rampant antisemites in his administration, refuting the antisemitic conspiracy theories his movement peddles, prosecuting hate crimes in accordance with the law and fully funding the Nonprofit Security Grant Program to strengthen safety at synagogues, schools and other places American Jews gather.

In the face of this administration’s xenophobic and exclusionary vision of the United States, our community is determined to continue to fight for a strong, pluralistic, inclusive country worthy of the values that have defined our nation at its best.”