Congressman Pappas Statement on House Passage of the NO BAN Act

Today, Congressman Chris Pappas (NH-01) released the following statement after voting to pass the National Origin-Based Antidiscrimination for Nonimmigrants Act or the NO BAN Act:

"The Administration's Muslim ban, one of its very first priorities, is fundamentally un-American and was never based on any specific, credible national security threats," said Congressman Chris Pappas. "The NO BAN Act would overturn this religious discrimination and put standards in place for future travel restrictions based on credible threats to protect the security and public safety of the United States, including threats posed by communicable diseases like COVID-19. I won't stand by and allow the President to unjustly target individuals based on religion. This is the United States of America, and we are better than this."

Nothing in the NO BAN Act would prevent the Administration from taking action to protect the American people from the current pandemic or future public health emergencies. The bill explicitly allows the President to use the Immigration and Nationality Act to deny entry to foreign nationals to protect the United States from the spread of communicable diseases, including the 2019 coronavirus.