Ellison: Trump’s executive order is a Muslim ban

Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) said Sunday that President Donald Trump’s latest executive order that temporarily bans nationals from seven Muslim-majority countries entering the United States constitutes “a Muslim ban.”

“But it is a religiously based ban. I mean, our Constitution says Congress shall make no law establishing a religion or abridge the free exercise thereof,” Ellison told CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

Trump on Friday signed an executive order that included a 90-day ban on nationals from seven predominantly Muslim countries entering the United States.

“This is a violation of equal protection. It is a religiously based ban,” Ellison added on Sunday.

Ellison, who was the first Muslim elected to Congress, noted that Trump said he wanted a Muslim ban during his presidential campaign.

Trump’s campaign in 2015 said it wanted “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on.”

“If they can ban Muslims, why can’t they ban Mormons?” Ellison asked. “Why can’t they ban Seventh Day Adventists?”