April 19, 2019
The Trump Administration restrictions on visas for residents of five predominantly Muslim nations would end under legislation introduced by more than 100 Democratic lawmakers from both chambers of Congress.
The legislation would repeal a ban on visas for travelers from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen as well as North Korea and Venezuela, according to a press release.
The law would also limit any US president’s authority to impose future travel bans, the release added, and require that any denials of visas be based on concrete evidence.
More than 30 Senate Democrats, of the 100 senators, and over 60 Democratic members of the House of Representatives, which has 435 members, signed on as cosponsors of the legislation.
The principal sponsor of the bill, Democratic Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware, said the legislation could be expected to pass the House but was unlikely to pass the Senate and would presumably face a presidential veto if it should pass the Senate. But he said it was important to stake out a Democratic position on the travel ban. He noted that all the senators now running for president support the legislation.
Coons said the Supreme Court decision allowing the ban to stay in place noted that the use of waiver authority by the Administration would keep the ban from being arbitrary. But Coons said there are very few waivers. In 2017, fewer than 1,000 visa applications were rejected, while in 2018 a total of 37,000 were rejected. From December 8, 2017, to April 30, 2018, roughly 98 percent of those applying for a visa from the impacted countries did not receive a visa.
There are numerous examples of married couples who cannot live together, parents who cannot live with their children and families who cannot gather to celebrate or grieve, he said. According to the Cato Institute, as of January 1, 2019, the ban has kept out 3,742 spouses and fiances and 5,542 children adopted by US citizens.
