[VIDEO] Senator Coons on Muslim ban: “I see it as illegal, unconstitutional and un-American”

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today joined CNN’s New Day to talk about President Trump’s immigration ban targeting seven Muslim majority countries.

Full video and audio available here: http://bit.ly/2kG9zUb

Excerpts from the interview:

“I see it as illegal, unconstitutional and un-American. I don't think this ban will make us any safer. I frankly think it will be a propaganda bonanza for ISIS. It has outraged a number of our close allies on whom we are relying to be our partners on the war on terror, and it has sent the wrong message to our allies around the world about what we stand for as a country. Some of the first people caught up in the misguided ban just over the last 48 hours were Iraqi translators who risked their lives for American troops in the war in Iraq, and I think the symbol that sends is a strong one and I look forward to joining others who will be protesting this ban and challenging it both with statutory actions and legal actions.”

“…President Trump went on the Christian Broadcasting Network and spread some alternative facts about the numbers. We welcomed nearly as many Christian refugees as Muslim refugees last year. And this ban, although many say it is not a Muslim ban, is targeting only majority Muslim countries and has a specific carve out for religious minorities. I don't think it's good policy when we start picking specific religions and specific nationalities for us to welcome or admit. That harkens back to the dark days of our immigration policy as a country eight decades ago when we blocked Jewish refugees from coming here during the Holocaust.”

“If the stated goal of the executive order, what it says on its face, is that it is designed to protect us from the threat of infiltration of those who might do us harm, the three countries from which people have come who committed the 911 attacks and other attacks are pointedly excluded from this list, and it is unclear why they were excluded from this list.  And it suggests that's not really what is going on with this, I believe, Muslim ban.”