The U.S. House Judiciary Committee chaired by Jerry Nadler, on Wednesday, February 12th, 2020, voted to advance a bill that would repeal Donald Trump’s travel ban on Nigeria and other Muslim-majority countries. Moreover the bill is designed to limit Trump from imposing future restrictions based on worship or religion.

Early this month, Trump signed a proclamation stopping citizens from Nigeria, Kyrgyzstan, Eritrea and Myanmar from applying for visas to immigrate to the United States.

The U.S. House of Representatives, controlled by the Democrats, voted along party lines in favour of advancing the “No Ban Act”, which was introduced after Trump imposed a new travel ban on some countries, including Nigeria and five (5) other nations. Other countries that faced travel restrictions to the U.S. are Yemen, Somalia, Iran, Libya, Syria, Venezuela and North Korea.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), a leading civil rights group, welcomed the new development, saying it sends a message to Trump that Muslims are welcome to America.

Congress took a huge step forward today, sending the message to the president and the country that Muslims and other communities of colour are welcome here. Now that the bill has passed out of committee, we look forward to its swift passage in the House without any further changes,

Mana Waheed, senior legislative and advocacy counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said in a statement.

He added:

We must end these bans and prevent presidents from using rank prejudice to discriminate against black and brown people.

The ‘No Ban Act’ would overturn Trump’s travel ban and prevent him from enacting future restrictions on immigrants to the United States, unless the administration provides plausible evidence before the U.S. Congress.

Justin Nwosu

Justin Nwosu is the founder and publisher of Flavision. His core interest is in writing unbiased news about Nigeria in particular and Africa in general. He’s a strong adherent of investigative journalism, with a bent on exposing corruption, abuse of power and societal ills.