(Photo: Gage Skidmore/Flickr)
WASHINGTON—Democrats in the US Senate have introduced legislation to oppose President Donald Trump’s executive order on immigration, which temporarily bars people from several Muslim countries from entering the United States, Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine announced in a press release on Tuesday.
The release called the Trump order a “Muslim ban,” a term that Trump administration officials vehemently deny.
“The president’s actions are misguided and do not reflect American values,” Warner stated in the release. “It is clear this policy was crafted with no regard to its constitutionality and the negative effects that it would have on law-abiding legal residents and individuals who have helped this country in the fight against terrorism.”
Administration officials have defended measure as a temporary pause until a strict vetting process can be implemented to protect the United States from Islamist terrorists who pose as refugees. Muslim militants posing as Syrian asylum seekers participated in recent terrorist attacks in Paris and Belgium.
The measure has little chance of becoming law with Republican majorities in the Senate and House of Representatives as well as a certain veto from Trump if the legislation somehow manages to win congressional approval.