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Senate Acts Against Trump’s Executive Orders on Immigration Restrictions & Muslim Ban

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Resolution Condemns President’s Actions As ‘Unconstitutional, Divisive & Discriminatory’ 

TRENTON – The Senate today voted on a resolution that forcefully condemns President Donald Trump’s series of executive orders that effectively ban Muslim travel, target “sanctuary cities” with punitive retribution, build a dividing wall on the Mexican border and attempt to usurp state and local law enforcement to target immigrants in communities throughout the country, including New Jersey.

Sponsored by Senate President Steve Sweeney, Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg and Senator M. Teresa Ruiz, the Senate resolution, SCR-143, was endorsed with a vote of 21-11.

“I believe that we have a responsibility to take a stand on the constitutional principles that define us as Americans and are so important to our way of life,” said Senator Sweeney. “New Jersey is the most diverse state in the country and our diversity is an important part of what makes us strong. Our constitutional rights as Americans are under assault so it is important that we demonstrate leadership showing that bigotry and discrimination have no place in our state or in our nation and that we will protect the people of New Jersey. An assault on the liberties of any American based on religion, ethnicity or nation of origin is an attack on us all.”

“The actions taken by Trump are not reflective of our values as Americans, and certainly not as New Jerseyans who take great pride in the diversity of our state,” said Senator Weinberg. “Discrimination against any group is an attack against all of our rights, and we will not stand for it. We cannot shy away from our responsibility to be a voice for the residents we took an oath to represent. We must stand up for all of our residents and for those who come to this great nation seeking refuge and searching for a better way of life for their children and families, just like the countless immigrants and refugees who came before them and built this nation since its founding. All of us have an obligation to oppose these discriminatory policies. In these turbulent times, and as leaders elected by the people of New Jersey, our silence is not golden.”

“As lawmakers, it is our responsibility to protect all of New Jersey and to be a voice for those living in our communities,” said Senator Ruiz. “Today, we stated that we reject the president’s executive orders that bar people from entering this country simply based on where they come from or what religion they practice. We reject rhetoric and actions that denigrate Latinos and other minority communities who contribute greatly to the richness and diversity of this state, and we reject policies that target immigrant communities and that place fear in our children and families. President Trump’s executive orders do not represent who we are as a nation, nor as a state, and today the Senate voted to send that message to Washington.”

Read the Senate Resolution full text here.

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