Opposition Democrats in Congress condemned U.S. President Donald Trump’s revised halt to refugee admissions and ban on entries from six majority-Muslim countries as illegal and ineffective.
Chuck Schumer, Leader of the left-leaning minority faction in the Senate, said the new measures would have “the same uphill climb in the courts” as Trump’s Jan. 27 executive order.
The order was earlier blocked by a federal judge.
“A watered down ban is still a ban.
“Despite the administration’s changes, this dangerous executive order makes us less safe, not more.
It is mean-spirited and un-American,” Schumer said.
The new order drops Iraq from a list of now six countries whose residents will not be issued new visas from 90 days, starting from March 16.
A 120-day halt to new refugee approvals remains in the new order; however, Syrian refugees are no longer singled out for an indefinite ban.
Nancy Pelosi, Leader of the Democratic minority in the lower House of Representatives, ridiculed Trump’s action.
She described it as “dangerous and incompetent actions” and accused the White House of manufacturing “after-the-fact justification for its baldly prejudiced and unconstitutional Muslim and refugee ban.”
She also described the revised order as “repackaging” of “immoral” policies.
“This is the same ban, with the same purpose, driven by the same dangerous discrimination that weakens our ability to fight terror.
“Protecting the American people requires us to be strong and smart, not reckless and rash,” Pelosi said. (dpa/NAN)
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