Joshua Roberts/Reuters
After President Donald Trump on Friday signed an order banning refugees from seven Muslim countries, leading Democrats have vowed to take him to task for the move. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said the “tears are running down the cheeks of the Statue of Liberty,” denouncing Trump’s executive order as “backwards and nasty.” Sen. Elizabeth Warren called the ban a “betrayal of American values.” Sen. Cory Booker called the move “fundamentally un-American.” Others noted that it would most likely backfire in the war on terrorism. Sen. Chris Murphy wrote in Huffington Post that Trump had just “handed ISIS a path to rebirth.”
Trump’s executive order is nothing short of a death sentence for Syrian families fleeing the atrocities of war back home. In addition to Syria, the order also temporarily bars entry to immigrants from Iraq, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen. Conveniently, it excludes Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey – all places where Trump does business. Trump also ordered that Christians and other religions get priority over Muslims, lamenting the “very, very unfair” treatment Christians in Syria were given. Refugees from Muslim countries will also have to take a religious test, in accordance with the order. In the signing ceremony at the Pentagon, Trump seemed to liken Muslim refugees to terrorists. “We don’t want them here,” he said. “We want to ensure that we are not admitting into our country the very threats our soldiers are fighting overseas. We only want to admit those into our country who will support our country, and love deeply our people,” he said.