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Democrats Take to House Floor to Protest Immigration Ban

Members sought to block funding

President Donald Trump speaks at the Republican congressional retreat in Philadelphia on Jan. 26. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call/Pool)
President Donald Trump speaks at the Republican congressional retreat in Philadelphia on Jan. 26. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call/Pool)

Democrats took to the House floor Tuesday to protest President Donald Trump’s executive order temporarily banning immigration from seven majority Muslim countries.

Members lined up to offer separate unanimous consent requests to bring up a bill (H.R. 724) that would prohibit federal funds from being used to carry out Trump’s executive order. The requests were denied because Republicans would not yield debate time on the environmental bill they were considering to address the UC requests.

During each request, the House Democrats offered an example of a person who had been impacted by the executive order. For example, House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer of Maryland referred to  a five-year old who flew into Dulles International Airport with another family and was held for four hours and not able to see her mother, who had come to the airport to pick up her daughter from the flight.

Before Democrats began the UC requests, California Rep. Zoe Lofgren, one of the lead sponsors of the bill, invited Republicans to cosponsor the bill.

The ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security noted that she would send a formal note to House Republicans later Tuesday inviting them to sign onto the bill.

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