What does the Constitution say about Trump’s “travel ban?” Retweet
We have a NEW campaign to fight the Trump travel ban. The sample letter to Congress below explains the issue, but first a bit of housekeeping…
Our new website, that will use Congressional contact software from CQ-Roll Call (see the list at right for the 16 benefits that change will bring), will launch soon, so…
It makes zero sense to invest in a software update to account for new members of Congress. If you have a new Rep or Senator, the messages will still deliver to the other incumbents.
The hardwired letter to Congress for our new travel ban campaign reads…
The Trump travel ban was authorized by section 212(f) of the INA. And the authorization for the Department of Homeland Security to create the list of countries that President Trump banned, comes from the Terrorist Travel Prevention Act of 2015. I want you to take steps to repeal both.
You can copy or edit this sample text for your personal letter to Congress…
The Constitution limits federal government powers to just those specifically listed (doctrine of enumerated powers). There’s no specific constitutional power to control or limit immigration. The listed power is naturalization (who becomes a citizen). Thus, the Trump travel ban and the legislation that authorized it are both illegal under the Constitution.
These actions are also immoral. Human rights are…
— Pre-constitutional: They belong to all persons, not just to citizens of the United States.
— Inalienable: They cannot be taken away by legislative action — Congress shall make no law…
And one such right is the freedom to move through public spaces, unmolested by state aggression.
Fears about terrorism cannot “trump” this right. Any large group of people will have sociopaths in it. We don’t deal with the vastly larger problem of American criminals by deporting innocent Americans with matching demographic characteristics. Neither should we deal with the problem of immigrant criminals by banning the innocent refugees our politicians have created through their interventionist foreign policy. It’s wrong to punish the innocent for the crimes of the guilty.
President Trump’s Executive Order banning travel from seven Muslim nations enforces unconstitutional legislation passed by Congress. Thus, Congress and the Democrats are complicit in Trump’s unconstitutional action. Specifically…
The seven nations chosen came from a list created by the Department of Homeland Security under President Obama. DHS gained the power to create such a list from the Terrorist Travel Prevention Act of 2015, legislation that was supported by Congressional Democrats and signed into law by President Obama. This is the first piece of legislation that should be repealed.
The second offending law is section 212(f) of U.S. Code, derived from the Immigration and Naturalization Act of 1952. It reads as follows:
“(f) Whenever the President finds that the entry of any aliens or of any class of aliens into the United States would be detrimental to the interests of the United States, he may by proclamation, and for such period as he shall deem necessary, suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens as immigrants or nonimmigrants, or impose on the entry of aliens any restrictions he may deem to be appropriate.”
As you can see, that language is essentially a blank check that allows any President, including Trump, to ban the people of any country for almost any reason.
Both pieces of enabling legislation must be repealed.
— END OF SAMPLE LETTER–
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Thanks for being an ACTIVE DC Downsizer,
Perry Willis & Jim Babka
Downsize DC