Rashida Tlaib Calls Trump’s Alleged Travel Ban Expansion ‘Straight Up Racism’

President Trump’s alleged consideration of expanding the nation’s travel ban is racist, according to Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI).

The congresswoman strongly disagreed on Friday with a report that said the Trump administration was thinking about expanding the ban to cover more countries:

No more waiting. Too many Muslims have been intentionally targeted, discriminated against, separated from their families and denied opportunities solely based on their faith. Straight up racism!

Pass #NoBanAct #RepealtheBan @MuslimAdvocates https://t.co/M47QECbGmD

— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) January 10, 2020

The Associated Press report stated that the document outlining the administration’s plans had been “circulating the White House” and that countries that would be affected were “blacked out,” according to their anonymous sources.

The article continued:

It’s unclear exactly how many countries would be included in the expansion if it proceeds, but two of the people said that seven countries — a majority of them Muslim — would be added to the list. The most recent iteration of the ban includes restrictions on five majority-Muslim nations: Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen, as well as Venezuela and North Korea.

Even though White House principal deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley did not confirm the plan, he told the AP the travel ban made the United States safer.

Gidley commented:

The Travel Ban has been very successful in protecting our Country and raising the security baseline around the world. While there are no new announcements at this time, common-sense and national security both dictate that if a country wants to fully participate in U.S. immigration programs, they should also comply with all security and counter-terrorism measures — because we do not want to import terrorism or any other national security threat into the United States.

However, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) retweeted the article in question and urged her fellow representatives to pass the No Ban Act.

“What do 5 out of 7 of these countries have in common? They are Muslim-majority countries the President already tried to ban. We need to pass the #NoBanAct immediately to stop this madness,” she wrote.

In February, Breitbart News’s John Binder reported that Trump’s travel ban halted almost all legal immigration from countries designated as sponsors of terrorism.

“In total, more than 37,000 visas were denied in 2018 thanks to the travel ban — including about 15,400 foreign nationals seeking to permanently resettle in the U.S. and 21,645 foreign nationals wanting non-immigrant visas,” he concluded.