The White House issued a veto threat yesterday for H.R. 2214 – National Origin-Based Antidiscrimination for Nonimmigrants (NO BAN) Act. The bill would limit the President's authority under section 1182(f) of title 8 to restrict admissions if the admissions would be "detrimental to the interests of the United States."
H.R. 2214 is a response to the Trump Administration's travel bans that restrict admissions from terrorist-supporting nations. However, it would also limit the President's authority to restrict admissions during the current coronavirus outbreak. The White House issued the following statement:
This legislation would limit the President’s authority to suspend or restrict aliens from entering the United States when he determines such action to be in the national interest. It would make the President’s authority to act in the national interest contingent upon actions of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of State. And it would limit the scope of national interests that the President may consider when making such a determination.
House GOP Whip Steve Scalise is also urging House GOP Members to oppose the legislation:
Speaker Pelosi is planning to bring called the No Ban Act that would actually make it more difficult for the President to, for example, stop people coming in from countries that have a high propensity of outbreaks of the Coronavirus. And President Trump was able to successfully use his authorities to limit the number of people coming in from China when it was initially starting [to] come out of China. Why would you want to bring legislation that would make it harder for the President to do his job keeping this country safe? I would urge Speaker Pelosi to pull the No Ban Act from the [House Floor].
The House this week is expected to use an unrelated bill (H.R. 2685) as a vehicle for passing the NO BAN Act.
