111 members of Congress expressed support for President Donald Trump’s decision to launch airstrikes in Syria last week — and also expressed support for the president’s ban on Syrian refugees and immigrants.
Dozens of other lawmakers made no clear statement on the president’s decision to ban Syrian refugees last year, but said they supported last week’s airstrikes.
Trump said he was motivated to authorize Friday’s military action — which was carried out in coordination with France and the United Kingdom — by the “evil and despicable” chemical attack launched by the government in the town of Douma a week earlier. The U.S. president spoke of “mothers and fathers, infants and children thrashing in pain and gasping for air” and called Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad a “monster.”
Like Trump, nearly all the members of Congress who said they support the airstrikes also expressed humanitarian concerns for the plight of the Syrian people. But 152 lawmakers tallied by Think Progress either expressed support for, or failed to condemn last year’s Muslim ban, which halted refugee resettlement for 120 days and suspended all Syrian immigrant and non-immigrant visas for 90 days.
ThinkProgress looked through public statements of every member of Congress to determine whether they supported, condemned, or made no clear statement on Trump’s ban last year. ThinkProgress then combed through the public statements of all members who did not explicitly condemn the ban to see whether they expressed support for the airstrikes last week. Neither the ban nor the airstrikes were voted on by Congress.
Lawmakers’ supposed concern for the Syrian people has simply not translated into immigration policy.
Just one week after taking office, Trump imposed a measure indefinitely suspending all Syrian refugee resettlement in the United States. Since then, he has issued two watered down versions of the same ban. All three versions barred Syrian immigrants and non-immigrants, including students, from entering the United States.
The most recent version of this ban is still in place, and unlike earlier versions, is indefinite. The Supreme Court will be hearing oral arguments next week on a legal challenge to the measure.
While there is no longer a specific ban on Syrian refugees, the Trump administration’s immigration policies have led to historically low numbers of refugees being allowed to enter the United States. The United States — which has yet to draw up a coherent strategy on Syria — has accepted only 11 Syrian refugees this year.
In 2017, 139 members of Congress expressed support for Trump’s refugee ban and also supported the U.S. airstrikes on the al-Shayrat airbase, after a chemical weapons attack by Assad a week prior.
You can see ThinkProgress’ full data set and links to the lawmakers’ statements this year here.
Below is the full list of lawmakers who supported both the Muslim ban and the Syrian airstrikes. All of them are Republican.
Alabama
Rep. Bradly Byrne
Rep. Robert Aderholt
Rep. Mo Brooks
Alaska
Rep. Don Young
Sen. Dan Sullivan
Arizona
Rep. Martha McSally
Sen. John McCain
Arkansas
Rep. Rick Crawford
Rep. French Hill
Rep. Steve Womack
Sen. John Boozman
Sen. Tom Cotton
California
Rep. Devin Nunes
Rep. Kevin McCarthy
Rep. Steve Knight
Rep. Ed Royce
Rep. Ken Calvert
Rep. Darrell Issa
Colorado
Rep. Scott Tipton
Sen. Cory Gardner
Florida
Rep. Matt Gaetz
Rep. Gus Bilirakis
Rep. Vern Buchanan
Rep. Neal Dunn
Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart
Rep. Carlos Curbelo
Rep. Ted Yoho
Rep. Ron DeSantis
Georgia
Rep. Jody Hice
Sen. David Perdue
Sen. Johnny Isakson
Illinois
Rep. Mike Bost
Rep. Darin LaHood
Rep. Peter Roskam
Indiana
Rep. Jackie Walorski
Rep. Todd Rokita
Rep. Trey Hollingsworth
Louisiana
Rep. Steve Scalise
Rep. Clay Higgins
Rep. Ralph Abraham
Sen. John N. Kennedy
Maine
Rep. Bruce Poliquin
Sen. Susan Collins
Maryland
Rep. Andy Harris
Michigan
Rep. David Trott
Rep. Bill Huizenga
Rep. Mike Bishop
Mississippi
Rep. Steven Palazzo
Missouri
Rep. Ann Wagner
Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer
Rep. Sam Graves
Sen. Roy Blunt
Nebraska
Rep. Jeff Fortenberry
Rep. Don Bacon
New Jersey
Rep. Tom MacArthur
Rep. Leonard Lance
New York
Rep. Lee Zeldin
Rep. Daniel Donovan
Rep. John Faso
Rep. Peter King
Rep. Claudia Tenney
Rep. Tom Reed
Rep. Chris Collins
North Carolina
Rep. Ted Budd
Rep. Mark Walker
Rep. David Rouzer
Rep. Richard Hudson
Rep. Robert Pittenger
Sen. Thom Tillis
North Dakota
Rep. Kevin Cramer
Ohio
Rep. Brad Wenstrup
Rep. Bill Johnson
Rep. Warren Davidson
Oklahoma
Rep. Tom Cole
Rep. Steve Russell
Sen. Jim Inhofe
Pennsylvania
Rep. Lou Barletta
Rep. Lloyd Smucker
Rep. Mike Kelly
Rep. Scott Perry
Sen. Pat Toomey
South Carolina
Rep. Joe Wilson
Rep. Jeff Duncan
Sen. Lindsey Graham
South Dakota
Rep. Kristi Noem
Sen. Mike Rounds
Tennessee
Rep. Phil Roe
Rep. Chuck Fleischmann
Rep. Scott DesJarlais
Rep. Diane Black
Rep. Marsha Blackburn
Rep. David Kustoff
Sen. Bob Corker
Sen. Lamar Alexander
Texas
Rep. Jodey Arrington
Rep. Ted Poe
Rep. Pete Olson
Rep. Roger Williams
Rep. Michael Burgess
Rep. Pete Sessions
Rep. Brian Babin
Sen. Ted Cruz
Utah
Rep. Chris Stewart
Rep. Jason Chaffetz
Rep. Mia Love
Virginia
Rep. Rob Wittman
Rep. Scott Taylor
Washington
Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers
Wisconsin
Rep. Paul Ryan
Sen. Ron Johnson
Wyoming
Rep. Liz Cheney
With additional reporting from Elham Khatami.
This dataset has been updated with additional context about Rep. Curbelo’s views that Syrian refugees should not be summarily rejected, but should be allowed in the country as long as the U.S. government demands “intense vetting.”