Cardin rails against Trump travel ban at Muslim-Jewish unity reception

WASHINGTON- Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) said President Donald Trump’s executive order prohibiting U.S. entry to citizens from seven predominately Muslim countries has damaged America’s reputation abroad.

“It made it more difficult for King Abdullah (II) in the Muslim community to explain America’s leadership of welcoming all people to our country,” Cardin said at a reception hosted by the Muslim-Jewish Advisory Council on Wednesday evening in reference to a recent meeting he had had with the Jordanian head of state.

“And it calls into question whether we are going to continue to be the leaders on accepting refugees.”

Trump signed the executive order Friday that denies U.S. entry to persons from Iran, Iraq, Somalia, Yemen, Syria, Sudan, and Libya for a period of three months. The order also prohibits refugee resettlement for a period of four months. Syrian refugees are banned indefinitely.

The executive order has provoked massive protests in the both the U.S. and abroad as many view it as a Muslim ban.

The Trump Administration has said that the travel ban is not discriminatory in nature and is a necessary precaution while the government evaluates and tries to improve screening procedures.

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) supports the travel ban.

“What is happening is something we support,” Ryan said earlier this week. “We need to pause and we need to make sure that the vetting standards are up to snuff so we can guarantee the safety and security of our country.”

Ryan did however suggest that he believes the ban was poorly implemented.

“It’s regrettable that there was some confusion on the rollout of this,” Ryan said. “No one wanted to see people with green cards or special immigrant visas, like translators, get caught up in all of this.”

Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said Sunday that ban does not apply to those who possess special visas or green cards.

Cardin, who is the Ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, noted that Jordan has accepted 650,000 Syrian refugees and that that country has made great strides in integrating the refugees into Jordanian society.

Cardin said barring U.S. admittance to Syrian refugees will not help prevent acts of terrorism.

“We’ve never had a single episode of a problem in this country as a result of a Syrian refugee,” Cardin said.

Cardin compared the plight of Muslim refugees to that of Jews trying to escape Nazi Germany during the 1930s.

“During World War II it was the [USS] St. Louis (passenger ship) that had Jewish families trying escape Nazi Germany that were stopped at our borders and not allowed to enter. They were sent back to Europe; many died in the Holocaust.”

“So it’s particularly disturbing that today we are saying there is a different test for a Muslim coming to America.”

Cardin, who is Jewish, stressed the importance of Jewish-Muslim unity.

“The Jewish community, the Muslim community, we have a lot in common,” Cardin said. “And we have both here in America have built a better nation and a stronger nation because of our presence.”

The event was held in the Dirksen Senate Office Building and was attended by about fifty people of various faiths.

Former Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.), who like Cardin, is Jewish, moderated the event.

Coleman told TMN prior to the reception that the Muslim-Jewish Advisory Council is a non-partisan organization and that it’s goal is to promote tolerance and understanding between the two groups.

“This is a group that is going to be for things; not against things,” Coleman said. “And if we can kind of make something of this, we can kind of support each other and ensure that there is less violence against any of us; that’s a good thing.”

This article was republished with permission from Talk Media News