Former President Donald Trump's Muslim travel ban is finished, but thousands of people around the world are still suffering the consequences and unable to come to America, according to Bronx Democratic Rep. Ritchie Torres.
The first-term lawmaker planned to introduce the "Keeping Our Promise Act" in Congress on Monday to smooth the way for nearly 21,000 would-be immigrants by giving them a year to claim their green cards or resume applications that were put on ice under the Trump policy.
President Biden signed an executive order on his first day in office that ended Trump's ban, which prohibited residents of nearly a dozen Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S.
© Andrew HarnikA protester held up a sign reading
A protester held up a sign reading "No Muslim Ban" during a rally against former President Donald Trump's immigration policy in Washington in April of 2018. (Andrew Harnik/)
But data from the State Department show that 20,900 green card lottery winners are still struggling to claim their immigration papers, Torres said.
They live in Burma (Myanmar), Eritrea, Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen, according to the State Department.
"Even though the Trump Muslim ban has been repealed, the victims of the travel ban were never made whole," Torres said.
© Adam HungerRitchie Torres spoke to the media on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020, when he was elected to the House of Representatives from the Bronx borough of New York.
Ritchie Torres spoke to the media on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020, when he was elected to the House of Representatives from the Bronx borough of New York. (Adam Hunger/)
His legislation will "fully reverse the discriminatory and destructive legacy" of Trump's ban, he said.
Just hours after Biden took office on Jan. 20, when he ended the ban, he called it "a stain on our national conscience ... inconsistent with our long history of welcoming people of all faiths and no faith at all."
© Provided by New York Daily NewsFormer President Donald Trump.
Former President Donald Trump. (Susan Walsh / AP/)
Trump issued his self-described Muslim ban seven days after he took office in 2017, claiming it would protect the U.S. from terrorist attacks.
The ban went through several iterations after courts struck down some of its provisions as unconstitutional.