The following opinion piece is submitted by Democratic political consultant Joshua Henne.
To N.J. congressmen: If you’re not battling travel ban, you’re backing bigotry
History will remember – and harshly judge — every elected official supporting President Trump’s travel ban of seven Muslim nations and refugees around the globe. Simply put, if you’re not battling the ban, you’re backing bigotry.
Sadly, Congressmen Chris Smith (R-N.J. 4th Dist.) and Tom MacArthur (R-N.J. 3rd Dist.) displayed profiles in cowardice by defending this executive order exploiting immigrants, endangering troops and risking the future of all Americans.
After taking their sweet time contemplating whose side they’re on, Smith and MacArthur chose the wrong side of morality and history. Thankfully, federal Judge James Robart halted the ban nationwide after finding “no support” for claims “we have to protect the U.S. from individuals” from Iran, Syria, Iraq, Somalia, Yemen, Sudan and Libya.
However, the checks-and-balances of America’s courts stopping our executive branch’s unconstitutional, immoral overreach doesn’t let Congress off the hook.
“The
executive order is a pause as we find a way to secure and protect Americans while acting with compassion for humanitarian refugees,” Smith told NJ Advance Media.
Smith’s parsing of words is particularly disappointing after the name he’s made for himself on humanitarian missions these past 36 years. He’s won awards for work in troubled hotspots like Iraq, Darfur and South Sudan. Yet, now he’s turned a blind eye towards the plight of refugees and the splitting of families with green cards from the very areas he’s garnered global headlines in.
These past few weeks, while tweeting and
facebooking about abortion, Smith’s pro-life claims ring hollow since he hasn’t uttered a peep about the vulnerable lives imperiled by the travel ban:
*The 4-month-old Iranian girl with a heart condition barred from travelling to Oregon for dire scheduled-surgery.
*The 9-year-old in a Somali refugee camp requiring treatment for congenital heart disease.
*The toddler badly-burned at an Iraqi refugee camp set for follow-up surgery in Boston, but whose father can’t get back to hold his son.
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