House and Democrats who gathered on the Supreme Court steps Monday vowed to fight Donald Trump’s executive orders on immigration, although there is little they can to stop it.
“We must choose to fight, we must choose to resist, we must choose to stand up and fight for what we believe in,” Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., shouted to a crowd of protesters gathered in the steps.
Democrats in Congress spent the day condemning Trump’s executive orders, which impose a travel ban and halt refugee entrants from seven Muslim-majority countries.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., called the orders “unconstitutional and immoral,” and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., promised lawmakers “will not let this evil order make us less American. We will fight it with everything we have and we will win this fight.”
But Democrats have little recourse to change Trump’s order.
Republicans blocked Schumer’s move earlier Monday to bring up legislation to rescind the order banning refugees from the seven countries.
House Democrats plan to introduce their own legislation, but it’s unlikely to make it to the floor in the GOP-led chamber.
Without legislation, Democrats can only bring their fight to the public. The protesters who attended the event on the Supreme Court were for the most part anti-Trump and anti-Republican.
“It’s wrong morally and ineffective,” Tony Phillips, 61, who votes Democrat and attended the protest, said of the executive orders.
Howard Park, 58, who also votes Democrat, said Trump “owns” the executive actions because Democrats are in the minority and powerless to stop them.
“This is not a divided government, this is a united government,” Park said.
Al Weaver contributed to this report.
