NO BAN Act

Key Points

• The bill expands nondiscrimination protections to cover nonimmigrant visas, admission, and other immigration benefits. It adds religion as a protected category alongside race, sex, and nationality, preventing the government from using these factors to deny entry or benefits.
• The bill transfers and limits the executive branch's power to impose travel bans. Instead of the president acting alone, the Secretary of State must first determine, based on specific and credible facts, that a group of people entering the U.S. would threaten security, public safety, human rights, or international stability.
• Any travel restriction must be narrowly tailored using the least restrictive means possible, and must consider waivers for families and humanitarian cases. This is designed to prevent broad, country-wide bans that sweep up people who pose no threat.
• Congress gains oversight power: the administration must brief Congress and submit a written report within 48 hours of any travel restriction. If it fails to do so, the restriction automatically ends. Ongoing 30-day reports are also required.
• People harmed by an illegal travel ban gain the right to sue in federal court for relief, including through class action lawsuits. This creates a judicial check on executive immigration authority.
• The bill requires the State Department to produce a detailed retrospective report on the implementation of previous travel bans, including Presidential Proclamations 9645, 9822, and 9983 and related executive orders, with data broken down by country and visa category.