Keith Ellison: New Trump travel ban is ‘irrational,’ ‘mean’

President Trump’s revised executive order temporarily banning visitors from six Muslim-majority nations is still discriminatory to Muslims and prevents people in need from getting necessary help in the U.S., Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) said Tuesday, calling the measure “irrational” and “mean.”

“This was a ban that was originally designed to bar people because of their religion, and it is still that,” he said during an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “I mean, it doesn’t ban every Muslim in the world, but all the people who are banned, are banned because they are Muslim.”

“If you look at the countries where people who committed acts of terrorism in the United States actually come from, those countries are not on the list,” he added. “It’s an irrational list. It’s a mean list.”

{mosads}Trump issued an executive order on Monday laying out a revamped version of his controversial Jan. 27 order, which barred citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries — Syria, Iran, Iraq, Yemen, Libya, Sudan and Somalia — from entering the U.S.

The original travel ban drew immediate backlash, with critics claiming it amounted to a de facto ban on Muslims. A federal appeals court in San Francisco put a hold on the order last month, prompting the Trump administration to work on a new one that it hopes will withstand legal muster.

The new measure maintains the first order’s ban on travelers from certain countries, though it removes Iraq from that list. It also allows green-card and visa holders from those countries to enter the U.S. and does not indefinitely ban Syrian refugees, just temporarily bans all refugees.

But Ellison said the new executive order will prevent people living in dangerous or war-torn countries from seeking new lives in the U.S.

“Somalia is now going through a massive drought and a famine, and these people could be banned from getting relief through coming to the United States, because of this ban,” he said.

“This is inhumane, and it’s cruel and it’s wrong.”