A freshman House Republican warned Monday that Democratic complaints about President Trump’s immigration executive order will hurt the country because they’re leading to protests that could put law enforcement officials in harm’s way.
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“The rhetoric coming from my colleagues across the aisle and the liberal media regarding President Trump’s executive order to strengthen America’s immigration policy is harmful to our country and is placing law enforcement professionals at risk due to incited protest,” Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., said on the House floor.
“The fact is that President Trump is protecting America by strengthening our vetting procedures,” he said. “The details of his order clearly state that the allowed level of immigrants from the affected foreign nations is essentially the average rate of the 15 years before President Obama’s dangerous expansion of the program in 2016.”
“President Trump’s executive order has simply restored sanity to America’s immigration policy,” Higgins added.
Trump drew criticism from both Republicans and Democrats on Friday by issuing an order that will temporarily halt immigration from seven Middle East and north African countries, and also halt the acceptance of refugees until improvements are made to the process of vetting applicants. Democrats have warned that Trump’s move is anti-Muslim, but Higgins said the pause will help reverse the quick, unchecked expansion of immigration seen under President Obama.
“It was President Obama who, against all reasonable consideration, put the American citizenry at risk in 2016, by his massive expansion of immigration from nations that are known to produce radical Islamic terrorists,” he said. “Thank God that President Trump has upheld his oath to protect American lives.”
