Members of Maine’s Congressional Delegation are weighing in on President Donald Trump’s revised travel ban, which was announced Monday.
In a statement, Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins says that the president’s new immigration executive order addresses some of the concerns Collins had with the original ban. For example, she notes that the new order now exempts green card and visa holders and permits Iraq translators and others who assisted the U.S. military.
Collins says the new executive order eliminates what she calls the “ill-conceived” religious test that was included in the previous order.
Maine’s other U.S. senator, Independent Angus King, says Trump’s original travel ban was a serious policy mistake and legally questionable. He says the president’s need to issue a new, revised ban only underscores this.
King says ISIS and other extremist groups are deliberately trying to create a divide between America and the Muslim world. King says that, rather than sow divisions, the president should work to improve counterterrorism partnerships with the Muslim world and work with Congress to further strengthen entry and exit procedures.
Republican U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin of Maine’s 2nd District says that it appears the White House has worked closely with the country’s national security agencies, officials from the State Department and Justice Department legal counsel in crafting the executive order. Poliquin adds that, as a nation of immigrants, we must also uphold our core American values of inclusion.
He says he is pleased to see there is a system in place to deal with case-by-case waivers so there is a process allowing those to enter who should pose no threat.
