Statement from State Senator Gustavo Rivera On Current Administration's Revised Executive Order Banning Nationals From Six Majority Muslim Countries

I unequivocally condemn and denounce the Executive Order recently signed by the current administration that reinstates a 90-day travel ban on individuals from six majority Muslim countries including Syria, Lybia, Yemen, Sudan, Iran and Somalia. It is important to note that while the new Executive Order was only slightly modified, its key provisions do not differ from the original version. 

This Executive Order will continue to shut our country’s doors to refugees from all over the world adding to the desperation of countless men, women and children seeking an opportunity to restart their lives after surviving dramatic and harrowing experiences that made them flee their home countries. While our national security is and should be paramount, the measures that this Executive Order seeks to implement are counterintuitive and shortsighted to our country’s efforts to successfully fight terrorism at home and abroad. By singling out individuals from these six majority Muslim countries, this administration further perpetuates the feelings of fear, discrimination, violence and hate that have impacted Muslim communities across our country.

I remain committed to resisting this administration's efforts to discriminate against people, whether it be based on their nationality, race, religion, gender or sexual orientation.