[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 16 (Tuesday, January 31, 2017)]
[House]
[Page H752]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                               MUSLIM BAN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
California (Ms. Speier) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. SPEIER. Mr. Speaker, three centuries ago, Hans Christian Andersen 
wrote a fairy tale about a king who was so vain and insecure that 
nobody dared challenge him. Andersen wrote: ``He cared nothing about 
reviewing his soldiers, going to the theater, or taking a ride in his 
carriage except to show off his new clothes.''
  Sound familiar--a leader so vain and insecure that those around him 
are afraid to challenge him? a man who thinks he is so smart that he 
can ignore intelligence briefings and who thinks he is so powerful that 
he can attack an entire religion without respecting the Constitution, 
consulting Congress, or even his own Cabinet?
  The White House claims its ban on Muslims entering our country is 
about ``keeping America safe.'' Don't be fooled. It is about keeping 
America scared. I am not naive. There is good and evil in this world. 
My argument is that the administration has the two sides confused.
  On Saturday, a 5-year-old Maryland boy was held for hours at the 
Washington Dulles International Airport while his frantic Iranian-born 
mother waited outside. Meanwhile, at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, alt-
right provocateur Steve Bannon reassured the President that their 
extreme vetting was protecting us from evil.
  Okay, Mr. Bannon. Let's talk extreme vetting.
  Before refugees make it to America, they are first vetted by the U.N. 
Commission for Refugees. Then the State Department investigates and 
interviews them overseas, checking them against databases with data 
from battlefields, email intercepts, intelligence, and other 
interviews. If they make it this far--and many do not--they are 
fingerprinted and investigated again by the FBI. This process can take 
up to 2 years, and everyone is vetted--in fact, extremely vetted; but 
no extreme seems extreme enough for the extremists who are currently in 
the White House.
  And how did they choose the seven countries to target?
  In the past 40 years, there hasn't been a single terrorist act in 
America by someone from Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia, Yemen, or 
Iraq. Of course, that is not all these countries have in common. They 
are also nations in which The Trump Organization has no business. 
Meanwhile, the homes of every one of the 9/11 hijackers--Saudi Arabia, 
the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and Lebanon--were left off the list. 
The Trump Organization has holdings in three out of the four.
  Last weekend, at the San Francisco International Airport, an Afghani 
interpreter for our military was detained--held--and questioned after 
risking his life for our country.
  In Chicago, Sahar Algonaimi traveled from Syria to care for her dying 
mother. Despite having a valid visa, she was put back on a plane and 
sent home. Before she left, her sister said she was coerced into 
signing papers that canceled her visa.

                              {time}  1030

  Other detainees say they were asked their views on the current 
President. What does that have to do with anything? If having a 
negative view of the man in the White House is cause for getting kicked 
out of the country, we are going to need a lot more planes.
  Since Friday, hundreds have been detained and thousands of legal 
residents and visa holders are in limbo overseas. ISIS is rejoicing, 
and American troops and travelers are in danger.
  So how does the White House describe the results? `` . . . a massive 
success story . . . on every single level.'' If this is the Trump 
administration's idea of success, God help us all when they fail.
  At the end of his famous story, Hans Christian Andersen's foolish 
emperor parades naked down the street while those around him marvel at 
his magnificent clothes. Andersen wrote:
  ``No costume the Emperor had worn before was ever such a complete 
success.''
  Then a child cried out: ``But he hasn't got anything on.''
  We all know how the story ends. Just like in the fairy tale, 
sometimes it takes a child to show us the truth.

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