To N.J. congressmen: If you're not battling travel ban, you're backing bigotry

Congressmen Chris Smith & Tom MacArthur are on the wrong side of history (and morality) on this bigotry.

By Joshua Henne
posted on NJ.com

History will remember - and harshly judge -- every elected official supporting President Trump's travel ban of seven Muslim nations and refugees around the globe. Simply put, if you're not battling the ban, you're backing bigotry.

Sadly, Congressmen Chris Smith (R-N.J. 4th Dist.) and Tom MacArthur (R-N.J. 3rd Dist.) displayed profiles in cowardice by defending this executive order exploiting immigrants, endangering troops and risking the future of all Americans.

After taking their sweet time contemplating whose side they're on, Smith and MacArthur chose the wrong side of morality and history. Thankfully, federal Judge James Robart halted the ban nationwide after finding "no support" for claims "we have to protect the U.S. from individuals" from Iran, Syria, Iraq, Somalia, Yemen, Sudan and Libya.

However, the checks-and-balances of America's courts stopping our executive branch's unconstitutional, immoral overreach doesn't let Congress off the hook.

"The executive order is a pause as we find a way to secure and protect Americans while acting with compassion for humanitarian refugees," Smith told NJ Advance Media.

Smith's parsing of words is particularly disappointing after the name he's made for himself on humanitarian missions these past 36 years. He's won awards for work in troubled hotspots like Iraq, Darfur and South Sudan. Yet, now he's turned a blind eye towards the plight of refugees and the splitting of families with green cards from the very areas he's garnered global headlines in.

These past few weeks, while tweeting and facebooking about abortion, Smith's pro-life claims ring hollow since he hasn't uttered a peep about the vulnerable lives imperiled by the travel ban:

*The 4-month-old Iranian girl with a heart condition barred from travelling to Oregon for dire scheduled-surgery.
*The 9-year-old in a Somali refugee camp requiring treatment for congenital heart disease.
*The toddler badly-burned at an Iraqi refugee camp set for follow-up surgery in Boston, but whose father can't get back to hold his son.

Turning away immigrants based on faith is decidedly un-American. It undermines our values. Even Dick Cheney said, "This whole notion that somehow we can just say no more Muslims, just ban a whole religion, goes against everything we stand for and believe in."

Some Republicans -- such as U.S. Sens. John McCain, Susan Collins and Lindsey Graham-- spoke out. Closer to home, Pennsylvania Reps. Charlie Dent (R-5th Dist.) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-8th Dist.) came out against it. New Jersey's three other Republicans, Reps. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-11th Dist.). Leonard Lance (R-7th Dist.), and Frank LoBiondo (R-2nd Dist.) have also been critical. Even corporations like Coca-Cola, Apple and Amazon piped up.

Last Summer, addressing New Jersey's delegation as the only congressman attending Trump's RNC Cleveland coronation, MacArthur declared, "Everybody for the most part is looking for the same things. People are just trying to better their lives. They're just trying to lift their families up. They're trying to get further than they started."

Apparently, this was hollow lip service. When it came to Trump's travel ban, MacArthur "applauded him for acting," even though the measure smacks the very opposite of that lofty rhetoric.

Farleigh Dickinson's latest poll shows 53 perent of New Jerseyans believing Trump's foreign policy inexperience leaves America more vulnerable to those who wish to do us harm. Our representatives would be wise to listen to their constituents.

Electoral blowback will come for those supporting bigotry. But, you don't have to take my word for it. Here's just two of the hundreds of immediate rejoinders to MacArthur's Facebook post on the ban:

"In the last election I voted for you, but not Trump, because I knew what a Trump Presidency would do to this country, and it's coming true. For you to defend him puts the way of my voting for you in the future in jeopardy. Rethink your decision."

"I thought with some of your other issues you were level-headed and worked across party lines so this statement today was even more disappointing. I as a strong Democrat even voted for you because of it. Today made me question my vote...I'm very sad to see you take a stance like this."

In December, MacArthur heartwarmingly cut red tape so a soldier could formally adopt his gravely ill step-son, making the boy's Christmas wish come true. I only wish MacArthur showed the same compassion for immigrant families split apart and refugee children needing life-saving treatment. If only he'd look out for all military families by opposing measures making soldiers less safe.

Recently, 10 former bipartisan security officials and diplomats said Trump's ban could endanger troops abroad and fuel the Islamic State's recruitment and radicalization. It doesn't just propel propaganda for our enemies abroad, but frays relationships between Muslim communities and local law enforcement here at home.

On Martin Luther King Day, MacArthur tweeted a video-clip about "living with purpose and courage" above a photo of MLK with the quote, "The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."

These were his last tweets for the month - through Trump's inauguration, his slew of controversial actions and the travel ban. The uncourageous silence by MacArthur and Smith have them acting like very small men, indeed.

Those supporting Trump's bigotry will be viewed the same way history casts those who supported Jim Crow or South African apartheid and those against women's suffrage or marriage equality.


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Joshua Henne is a Democratic consultant and president of White Horse Strategies and can be found on Twitter at @JoshuaHenne.

Weekly Address 11/21/15: In the Face of Terror, We Stand as One

WASHINGTON, DC — In this week's address, the Vice President spoke to his and the President’s commitment to protecting our country from terrorists, while also providing refuge to some of the world’s most vulnerable people. He emphasized that he and the President consider the safety of the American people to be their first priority. But slamming the door in the face of refugees fleeing precisely the type of senseless violence that occurred in Paris last week would be a betrayal of our values. The vast majority of Syrian refugees are women, children, and orphans; survivors of torture; and people desperately in need of medical help. And all refugees undergo the highest level of security checks of any category of traveler to the United States. The Vice President reminded us that ISIL wants us to turn our backs on Muslims victimized by terrorism. We win by prioritizing our security while refusing to compromise our fundamental American values of freedom, openness, and tolerance.

Isn't It Time?

The following is from Congressman Rush Holt's newsletter:

For nearly a decade, the New York Police Department’s (NYPD) so-called “Demographics Unit” conducted wide-scale warrantless spying on Muslims, including at mosques, student associations, and businesses in New York City and even in other states, including New Jersey.  The NYPD targeted people based solely on their religious affiliation, without any reason to believe they were guilty of any crime.

By every metric, the Demographics Unit was a failure. The NYPD acknowledged that it never generated a lead in a criminal or terrorist investigation, and Muslim citizens have told me they felt the chilling effect of being singled out for suspicion by their own government. I have long fought to end this NYPD overreach, including by introducing a congressional resolution to condemn these illicit tactics.

This week brought good and long-overdue news: the NYPD is formally disbanding the Demographics Unit and ceasing its spying on our innocent neighbors.

The best conclusion to draw from the NYPD’s experience is that suspicionless surveillance doesn’t work; it squanders limited law enforcement resources on investigating the innocent; and it destroys the fundamental principle that the government must not treat any person as less than a full citizen above suspicion unless there is a probable cause.  The same conclusion can be applied to the on-going NSA surveillance of Americans.

Upcoming Office Hours in Your Community

Are you having any troubles with the Social Security Administration, the VA, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, or any other federal agency?  Or would you like to learn about applying for federal grants or acquiring flags flown over the U.S. Capitol?

If so, I hope you will drop by my upcoming Community Office Hours, where I or a member of my staff will be glad to help.  In the next few weeks, we will be in Middlesex, Trenton, and Old Bridge, and many more events are scheduled soon.  A full schedule is available atholt.house.gov/officehours.

Honoring Significant Milestones

Recently, I heard from constituents in Trenton and in Plainsboro who hoped to surprise their mothers with notes from the President in honor of their 100th birthdays. On their behalf, I reached out to the White House, and the President sent very warm letters of congratulations to each of them.

If you are celebrating a special occasion, I will be glad to request a presidential greeting on your behalf. Generally, the President may send congratulations to U.S. citizens for weddings, births, adoptions, Eagle Scout or Girl Scout Gold Awards, Bar or Bat Mitzvahs, 50th and subsequent anniversaries, and 80th and subsequent birthdays. For further details or assistance, please contact my Staff Assistant, Ms. Wilsar Johnson at 202-225-5801 orwilsar.johnson@mail.house.gov.

Sincerely,

Rush Holt
Member of Congress

Privatization Is Not The Answer

From the E-Newsletter of Congressman Rush Holt:

In 1935, being old generally meant being poor.  Yet today, only one in ten American seniors lives in poverty.  Indeed, seniors today are less likely than Americans in any other age group to live in poverty.

What is responsible for this turnaround?  The answer, of course, is Social Security, which marked its 77th anniversary last week.  In its nearly eight decades of existence, Social Security has lifted tens of millions of Americans out of poverty – including about 13 million today.  Social Security also assists many with disabilities and many children who survive the loss of a parent, as I did.

Although you would not know it from the hyperbole in Washington today, Social Security has never missed a payment and remains in pretty good financial shape. According to the two independent trustees overseeing the Social Security and Medicare programs, without any changes at all, the Social Security program can pay all benefits through at least 2036.  Even after that, it could still pay out about 77 percent of scheduled benefits.  

(Congressman Rush Holt)

This modest long-term shortfall in Social Security is a good reason to take steps to shore up the program.  Yet those who would use these challenges as an excuse to privatize Social Security, as Rep. Paul Ryan and others have proposed in recent years, are simply fear-mongering in hopes of advancing their impractical ideology.  Worse still, they are threatening the guarantee that is at Social Security’s heart.

As President Franklin D. Roosevelt said shortly after Social Security was created, “None of the sums of money paid out to individuals in assistance or in insurance will spell anything approaching abundance. But they will furnish that minimum necessity to keep a foothold; and that is the kind of protection Americans want.”

Ethnic Profiling Remains Ineffective and Offensive

In May, I wrote to you about the New York Police Department’s wide-scale, warrantless surveillance of innocent Muslims in states across America.  Muslims in New Jersey have told me that they felt the chill and intimidation from such profiling.

As I have said, profiling is a poor substitute for thinking, and it does not constitute good policing.  Now, there is evidence that the NYPD’s tactics were wholly ineffective.  As the Associated Press reported this week, the NYPD has acknowledged in court testimony that its six years of spying on Muslims never produced a lead or triggered a terrorism investigation.

Spending limited law enforcement resources profiling the innocent rather than investigating the guilty is not just wasteful; it presumes a separate class of Americans who can be placed under suspicion in the absence of reasonable, specific evidence, violating fundamental national principles of liberty and equality. 

Thank You to Congressional Interns for Summer 2012

This month, the latest group of Congressional interns in my West Windsor and Washington, D.C. office finished their service.  It was a pleasure to welcome these interns to my staff, and I was impressed by their intelligence, willingness to learn, and commitment to public service.

If you are a high school or college student interested in interning in my office, please visit my website to learn more.

Sincerely,

Rush Holt
Member of Congress

P.S. Just a reminder: I always want to hear from you, but to ensure a prompt response, please don’t reply to this e-mail.  Instead, please visitholt.house.gov/contact or call 1-87-RUSH-HOLT (1-877-874-4658).

Putting Cops Back on the Beat

From the e-Newsletter of Congressman Rush Holt

The recession has severely strained police departments throughout New Jersey. Many have had to take cops off the beat; Trenton today has the same number of police on the rolls as it did in 1932, with troubling, dangerous effects.

For decades, the federal government has played a role in supporting police in our communities. Through the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program, it has provided $18 million to 34 communities throughout central New Jersey, putting at least 330 police officers and sheriff’s deputies on the street.

Yet the Majority in Congress, intent on scaling back federal programs, proposed eliminating the COPS program last year. Although that effort ultimately failed, they are trying again to reduce the COPS program in 2013 Justice Department appropriations bill.

On Tuesday evening, I joined a bipartisan coalition of members to say, “Not so fast.” Together with Republican Reps. Michael Grimm and Peter King, as well as Democratic Reps. Pedro Pierluisi and Bill Pascrell, Jr., I sponsored an amendment to increase support for the COPS program by $94 million next year. Our amendment was adopted by the full House, and the underlying bill passed on Thursday and now moves to the other side of the Capitol for Senate consideration.

Putting an End to Warrantless Spying and Religious Profiling

Late last week, I introduced a resolution into the U.S. House condemning the New York Police Department’s ethnic and religious profiling and warrantless surveillance of Muslim Americans.

As first revealed in extensive reporting by the Associated Press, the NYPD has conducted wide-scale warrantless surveillance of Muslims throughout the country, including at mosques, student associations, and businesses in New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania. In most instances, the surveillance occurred in the absence of any evidence of wrongdoing – that is, organizations and individuals were surveilled solely on account of their religious affiliation. Muslims, of which there are millions in the US, tell me they feel the chill and the intimidation from such profiling.

Casting suspicion on people on the basis of their race, religion, or ethnicity without any legally valid reasons is not the way we behave in America, nor is it an effective means of gathering intelligence. As the historical record clearly demonstrates, profiling in policing is a substitute for thinking.

Our resolution condemns the unjustified surveillance and unlawful profiling of Muslim American Communities and demands that the New York Police Department cease any such warrantless surveillance activities within the United States and purge its database of information obtained in this unacceptable way.

Government Decisions Based on Evidence

Thomas Jefferson, from Notes on the State of Virginia, talking about government decisions based on evidence:

"The Newtonian Principle of gravitation is now more firmly established, on the basis of reason, than it would be were the government to step in, and to make it an article of necessary faith. Reason and experiment have been indulged, and error has fled before them."

Sincerely,

Rush Holt
Member of Congress