Thousands of people across the country continue to protest President Donald Trump’s immigration order at airports.
 
The executive action temporarily bans travel to the United States from Iraq, Iran, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen for 90 days.
 
President Trump said the move is about security, but shortly after the order was issued, it faced legal challenges.
 
Since the order was announced, several lawmakers and politicians have released statements:
 
 
 
 

Congressman Bill Shuster Statement:

 

“The safety and security of the American people is my top priority, and it is clear that ISIS will stop at nothing in order to find a path to American soil. I support President Trump’s efforts to temporary halt non- United States citizens from these seven countries for 120 days while the Department of Homeland Security reviews ways to better protect and strengthen a flawed vetting process. We cannot afford to get this wrong, not even once out of thousands of applications.

 

There’s unfortunately already a lot of politics being brought into this conversation, but this decision is about one thing and one thing only – national security. President Trump is taking the necessary steps to ensure we strengthen our vetting procedures so that everything that can be done is being done to protect this nation from radical Islamic terrorists.”

 

Senator Bob Casey Statement:

 

“This executive action is contrary to our values and our security. It means turning away children fleeing barrel bombing in Syria, women and girls fleeing human rights violations in Sudan and Somalia, and brave people who risked their lives to work with our troops in Iraq. Preventing these vulnerable people from resettling in the U.S. as refugees does nothing to make our nation safer.  Further, lowering the level of overall resettlement will make it harder on our allies who are already absorbing the bulk of the refugees fleeing conflicts around the world.  This executive action appears to be driven by politics and discrimination, not by recommendations from national security professionals.

 

 

Our first priority must be to keep America safe which means destroying terrorist networks wherever they are and ensuring that those offered refugee status go through the most rigorous possible screening. Refugee applicants are subject to the highest level of security checks for any category of traveler to the U.S. The process, which involves 18-24 months of review, includes screening by the National Counterterrorism Center, the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Center and the Departments of Homeland Security, Defense and State. This robust process includes biographic and biometric analysis. I am open to and have voted for ways to strengthen refugee screening in order to keep America safe, but these actions won’t make our nation measurably safer- they will just move us further away from the promise of America.”