Rep. Watson Coleman Condemns Trump’s Racist Travel Ban
Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12) issued the following statement condemning Trump’s Islamophobic racist travel ban targeting Muslim-majority and African nations:
“Time and time again Trump officials have come before Congress and I have expressed to them my disgust at the racism and discrimination that guide the policy decisions of Trump and this White House. And time and again I’m met with lazy platitudes, with officials claiming that they do not discriminate.
“My response has always been: I don’t care about the rhetoric, I care about actions. This travel ban is exactly what I’ve been talking about.
“Despite the lies coming from this administration, the only common denominator across the list of banned countries is that they are home to people who are not white. There is no consistency with regard to national security threats, domestic instability, or immigration volume. The only through-line is race.
“The bottom line is that this administration wants to make America white. If you’re fearful for yourself and your family, if you desperately seek a better future in the land of opportunity — but you are not white — then too bad. If you are white, however, even if you do not have a credible fear of persecution in your home country, they’ll roll out the red carpet. They’ll even pay for your flight.
“It’s also no accident that the Trump Administration has rolled out this ban while the polling numbers for their latest Big Billionaire Bailout Bill have started to tank. Their plan to cut Medicaid, Medicare, SNAP, and help for rural hospitals, while giving a massive tax break to billionaires and adding trillions to the national debt is deeply unpopular. This “travel ban” is another attempt to distract from their disastrous war on working-class people.
“Nevertheless, the travel ban is yet another sickening display of the racism, Islamophobia, and white nationalism that permeate this administration. It’s red meat to racists in an attempt to distract from the fact that they are attacking working-class people of all backgrounds. It’s despicable, and I condemn it in the strongest possible terms.”