Oroho calls on Republican legislators to defend Trump

Breaking news from Senator Steve Oroho and Assemblyman Parker Space...

Calling it "a moment of truth" for our party and its leadership, Senator Steve Oroho (R-Sussex, Warren, Morris) called on every Republican legislator to unite in opposition to a Democrat move to "condemn" President Trump's efforts to create greater scrutiny of those entering the United States from countries in which Islamic terrorists are harbored and sustained.

"There are those who have called this a 'Muslim ban' but that is more a term of propaganda than of fact," said Oroho.  "The seven countries targeted by President Donald Trump in his executive order on immigration were initially identified as 'countries of concern' under the Obama administration."

Trump’s order bars citizens from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen from entering the U.S. for the next 90 days.  In December 2015, President Barack Obama signed into law a measure placing limited restrictions on certain travelers who had visited Iran, Iraq, Sudan, or Syria on or after March 1, 2011.

Two months later, the Obama administration added Libya, Somalia, and Yemen to the list, in an effort, the administration said, to address “the growing threat from foreign terrorist fighters.”

"President Trump is simply acting on what earlier administrations have identified as threats to the security of our nation and lives of our people," Oroho explained.

8 USC §1182 (or section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act) is the legal foundation for President Trump's executive order:

“Whenever the President finds that the entry of any aliens or of any class of aliens into the United States would be detrimental to the interests of the United States, he may by proclamation, and for such period as he shall deem necessary, suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens as immigrants or non-immigrants, or impose on the entry of aliens any restrictions he may deem to be appropriate.”

The Congressional Research Service provides this explanation of the law: https://strongvisa.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/CRS-Pres-Auth-to-Exclude-Aliens.pdf

President Trump's executive orders also address so-called "sanctuary cities" that harbor undocumented persons who are illegally in the United States.  Senator Oroho is the sponsor of Senate Bill S2945, which prohibits a municipality from passing an ordinance to create a sanctuary city and makes it an ethics violation for state or local employees to refuse to comply with a federal immigration enforcement request.  Assemblyman Parker Space is the sponsor of the Assembly version, A1707.