Muslim-American lawmakers slam new Trump 'Muslim ban'

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - The U.S. Congress' only Muslim representatives argued Monday that President Donald Trump's new executive order on immigration still unfairly targets Muslims.

"Here we go again ... Muslim Ban 2.0 #NoBanNoWall," Representative Andre Carson wrote on Twitter shortly after Trump signed the order.

Carson is the second Muslim to have been elected to Congress.

The first, Representative Keith Ellison, was also adamant: "Trump's Muslim Ban is still a Muslim Ban."

"On Campaign, @realDonaldTrump called for 'total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.' Now, [he] says 'what Muslim Ban?'" Ellison wrote on Twitter.

Trump's now-defunct first effort to bar residents of seven Muslim majority countries was met with subsequent legal defeats as critics maintained it was a thinly veiled effort to fulfill the campaign pledge.

The new order Trump signed into effect Monday morning curtails migration from six of the originally designated Muslim-majority countries. Iraq was omitted from the new order amid consternation from Baghdad that prompted the State Department and Pentagon to urge Trump to change course on the country, which is a principal partner in the Daesh fight.

Under the new order, residents of Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen will not be able to receive new visas for a 90-day period.

The order says "the risk of erroneously permitting entry of a national of one of these countries who intends to commit terrorist acts or otherwise harm the national security of the United States is unacceptably high".