Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) thanked President Donald Trump Thursday for instituting a travel ban on 12 countries.
The United States is excluding travelers from Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen. Trump also provided a detailed breakdown of the reasoning for each.
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“We have to thank the president of the United States for doing the job that a president is supposed to do, that is protecting the American people,” Donalds said on Fox News’s The Faulkner Focus with guest host Bill Melugin. “He is doing that. The previous administration, led by somebody, maybe the autopen, was not doing that. They left our country open to more than 184 countries. Those countries on that list are a part of that, and we have seen the devastation here in the United States with young girls losing their lives, what happened in Boulder, Colorado. Enough is enough.”
Donalds was referring to a firebomb attack in Boulder, Colorado, that injured 12 people on Sunday. The attack happened on the day of Shavuot, a Jewish holiday celebrated by readings of the Torah. Victims were participating in a Run for Their Lives event, a group that organizes short runs and walks to bring attention to the hostages held by Hamas.
“Donald Trump is going to secure this nation,” Donalds said. “This travel ban will be upheld. We have to put the American people first, and Donald Trump is doing it.”
The first Trump administration bested the lengthy legal battle that followed his 2017 travel ban. Every country he tried to ban travel from during his first administration was majority Muslim, causing the move to be labeled a “Muslim ban.” This time, eight of the 12 are majority Muslim.