House Votes to Ban ‘Muslim Ban,’ Even Though There Never Was One in the First Place

Trump’s “Muslim Ban” was so notorious that Old Joe Biden’s handlers directed him to repeal it by executive order on the first day of his presidency. And that was that, right? Wrong. House Democrats have now moved to make sure this manifestation of racism, white supremacy, and all that is evil never recurs.

The “Muslim Ban” was one of the most offensive aspects of the Trump administration, as far as leftists and Hamas-linked Islamic advocacy groups such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) were concerned, as it was supposedly a racist, “Islamophobic” endeavor to keep Muslims out of the United States. Hijabbed “feminist” Linda Sarsour, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Mogadishu) and their ilk railed against it repeatedly, and the Democrats mounted numerous and ultimately unsuccessful court challenges against it. So it’s understandable that the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives has now acted to bar this particular door forever.

Al Jazeera, no doubt rubbing its hands in glee, reported Wednesday that “the US House of Representatives has passed a bill that would limit the ability of any United States president to impose a travel ban on the basis of religion, a move that was welcomed by civil rights advocates as ‘a major step forward.”

The late Osama bin Laden’s favorite news outlet explained that “the legislation, known informally as the NO BAN Act, comes in response to former President Donald Trump’s controversial ‘Muslim ban’ that barred travel to the US from several Muslim-majority countries. The bill, which must also pass in the US Senate to become law, was approved by a 218-208 vote in the House on Wednesday.”

Madihha Ahussain, a lawyer for Muslim Advocates, which has sued Facebook to force it to remove all material critical of Islam, stated: “The Muslim ban tore families apart, put lives on hold for years and labelled Muslims, Africans and other targeted people as threatening outsiders. We must ensure that no president can enact discriminatory bans like this ever again and with the passage of the NO BAN Act in the House, we are taking a major step forward to ensuring that they won’t.”

Great, but there’s just one catch: the “Muslim Ban” did not actually “impose a travel ban on the basis of religion” at all. The Democrats have just voted to ban something that was never in effect in the first place. Outside of hysterical leftist rhetoric, there never was any “Muslim Ban” at all. There was actually a ban on travel from countries that would not or could not provide adequate information about those wishing to enter the country. Among the countries named in various iterations of Trump’s travel ban were Chad, Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, Kyrgyzstan, Libya, North Korea, Myanmar, Nigeria, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Venezuela, and Yemen.

Now, imagine a racist, “Islamophobic” president wanting to bar Muslims from entering the United States and doing so by banning entry from North Korea, Myanmar and Venezuela, while doing nothing to impede entry from Indonesia (the world’s largest Muslim country by population), Pakistan (the world’s second largest Muslim country), or India (home of the third-largest Muslim population in the world). If Trump’s intention had really been to ban Muslims, he did such a remarkably poor job of it.

What Trump was really doing, quite obviously, was moving to ensure that the United States had adequate information about people entering the country. This wouldn’t completely preclude criminals and terrorists from entering, but it would certainly stop some of them. Immigration offers the choice of admitting people among whom are some who are harmful, so as to avoid being called “racist,” or to stop admitting even though some of them are harmless, and endure the “racism” charge for the safety of the American people (of all races). Every modern president besides Trump has decided to choose not being racist over ensuring the safety of the American people. Trump was the only one who chose instead to protect Americans. So obviously he had to go.

Ending Trump’s travel bans will mean that people about whom nothing is known will be able to enter the country freely, often from jihadi hotspots and other areas where criminal activity is rife. What could possibly go wrong? Sit back and watch, and hope you’re not among those who will be victimized.

But while all this is happening, the question remains: why have the Democrats prohibited something that never happened in the first place? To reinforce their narrative that it did, and to make future presidents, if we have any American ones, who might try to protect Americans the way Trump did. Protecting Americans is, you know, “racist.”

Robert Spencer is the director of Jihad Watch and a Shillman Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center. He is author of 21 books including many bestsellers, such as The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades), The Truth About Muhammad and The History of Jihad. His latest book is Did Muhammad Exist?: An Inquiry into Islam’s Obscure Origins―Revised and Expanded Edition. Follow him on Twitter here. Like him on Facebook here.