Trump’s Ban of Refugees Weakens Democracy and Threatens America’s Global Leadership Role
Trump’s Ban of Refugees Weakens Democracy and Threatens America’s Global Leadership Role
Statement of Robert Weissman, President, Public Citizen
Jan. 27, 2017
Shame on Donald Trump. And shame on any member of Congress who does not speak up and take immediate action to overturn Trump’s outrageous executive order reportedly limiting entry of immigrants from a number of Muslim and African countries into the United States.
Donald Trump – whose mother was born in Scotland, whose father’s parents were born in Germany and whose wife was born in Slovenia – today betrays our nation’s shared history and shared values. There would be no America without immigration, and there would be no recognizable America without freedom of religion. Yet today, Donald Trump enacts one of the harshest anti-immigrant actions in our nation’s history and not-so-covertly enacts a religious test for entry into the United States.
This measure serves no security interest of the United States, and in fact will only serve to fuel anger against the United States. Worse, it bars entry of refugees from countries undergoing humanitarian crises. The United States should be expanding, not prohibiting, permitted immigration from these nations.
The fact that Donald Trump is delivering on a campaign promise should not lessen anyone’s shock and outrage at this action. It is a stain on our nation, and will remain so until reversed.
*Follow all of Trump’s conflicts, promises and corporate cronies at: https://www.citizen.org/tags/taking-on-trump/
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