| Speaker | Time | Text |
|---|---|---|
|
unidentified
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469. | |
| This time has been designated for the taking of the official photo of the House of Representatives in session. | ||
| The House will be in a brief recess while the Chamber is being prepared for the photo. | ||
| As soon as the photographer indicates that these preparations are complete, the chair will call the House to order to resume its actual session for the taking of the photo. | ||
| At that point, members will take their cues from the photographer. | ||
| Shortly after the photographer is finished, the House will proceed with business. | ||
| Pursuant to Clause 12A of Rule 1, the Chair declares the House in recess while the Chamber is being prepared. | ||
|
unidentified
|
All right. | |
| So the House is taking a short break to allow for members to gather for the official House photo. | ||
| And when they gavel back in, expecting in just a few minutes, there'll be a vote on the debate rules for four bills. | ||
| Three of them would repeal laws in the District of Columbia, and another measure would permanently classify fentanyl with the highest penalties and control. | ||
| As always, live coverage of the House is here on C-S-Ban. | ||
| A conversation now on the Trump administration's new travel restrictions affecting individuals from 19 different countries. | ||
| Muzaffar Chishti joins us for this conversation. | ||
| He's a senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute, I think tank, here in Washington. | ||
| Mr. Chishti, good morning to you, sir. | ||
| Good morning to you, too. | ||
| The latest actions from the Trump administration, a so-called travel ban. | ||
| What's your 30,000-foot view of not just the ban itself, but the countries that are being targeted by the more complete ban and the restrictions as well? | ||
| Well, this is an iteration of the travel bans that the Trump administration introduced in the first term of that presidency, which was finally at the end upheld by our Supreme Court. | ||
| So, these are countries mostly in the Middle East and in Africa, with a few exceptions of Myanmar in Asia and Venezuela in the Western Hemisphere. | ||
| It's clearly designed to overcome the objections that the Supreme Court had initially felt about the travel bans last time. | ||
| So, to me, this is a narrower ban and probably legally will pass the muster. | ||
| I want to dive into what that means, what a narrow ban means, but first, about two minutes from Donald Trump last week announcing this latest round of restrictions and explaining why he thinks they're necessary. | ||
| Recent terror attack in Boulder, Colorado has underscored the extreme dangers posed to our country by the entry of foreign nationals who are not properly vetted, as well as those who come here as temporary visitors and overstay their visas. | ||
| We don't want them in the 21st century. | ||
| We've seen one terror attack after another carried out by foreign visa overstayers from dangerous places all over the world. | ||
| And thanks to Biden's open-door policies, today there are millions and millions of these illegals who should not be in our country. | ||
| In my first term, my powerful travel restrictions were one of our most successful policies, and they were a key part of preventing major foreign terror attacks on American soil. | ||
| We will not let what happened in Europe happen to America. | ||
| That's why, on my first day back in office, I directed the Secretary of State to perform a security review of high-risk regions and make recommendations for where restrictions should be imposed. | ||
| Among the national security threats their analysis considered are the large-scale presence of terrorists, failure to cooperate on visa security, inability to verify travelers' identities, inadequate record-keeping of criminal histories, and persistently high rates of illegal visa overstays and other things. | ||
| Very simply, we cannot have open migration from any country where we cannot safely and reliably vet and screen those who seek to enter the United States. | ||
| That is why today I am signing a new executive order placing travel restrictions on countries including Yemen, Somalia, Haiti, Libya, and numerous others. | ||
| The strength of the restrictions we're applying depends on the severity of the threat posed. | ||
| The list is subject to revision based on whether material improvements are made, and likewise, new countries can be added as threats emerge around the world. | ||
| That was the President from last Wednesday. | ||
| Mr. Chishti, what was your reaction to that justification for these actions? | ||
| I think the President was suggesting that, unlike the travel bans of the first Trump administration, which were blanket travel bans, they applied to every nationals of those countries. | ||
| Here it is factors that the administration believes would undermine the national security of the United States. | ||
| Now, it's not just one factor, it is the sanctity of the documents issued by these countries. | ||
| It is the assumption of security threats in these countries and the rate of people overstaying their visas in the United States. | ||
| So it's a combination of factors. | ||
| So in that regard, it is much more nuanced, I think, than the first travel ban. | ||
| And there are a number of exceptions provided, even if you come under the travel ban for people who have stronger connections to the United States, either in terms of family or diplomats who would be coming To the United States from these countries, they're still exempted. |