WASHINGTON – As the Trump administration continues to ban refugees entering the United States from 11 mostly Muslim-majority countries, U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, led his colleagues in introducing the No Ban on Refugees Act. Murphy’s bill would prohibit the U.S. government from barring refugees from entering the United States based on their country of origin. 

“As a member of the Senate, my first priority is to keep the American people safe. But Trump’s refugee ban puts American lives at risk and it plays right into the hands of our enemies,” said Murphy. “There’s no real danger to America from refugees who’ve gone through our vetting system and entered our country. The danger is that we help ISIS recruit lone-wolf terrorists here at home by making clear that they have no place in our society. It’s up to Congress to fix this.” 

Murphy has argued that President Trump’s harmful restriction on refugees and immigrants make the United States less safe. He also criticized the administration’s plan to cap the number of refugees that the United States will accept in FY 2018 to 45,000 – the lowest refugee admissions goal since 1980. 

Around the world, 22.5 million are refugees, more than half of whom are children. An unprecedented 65.6 million people have been forcibly displaced from their homes because of violence, persecution, and war.