United States Congressman David Price is calling for the immigration ban put forward in an executive order from Donald Trump to be rescinded.
“We clearly have a national crisis,” Price said at a press conference on Tuesday. “I believe it’s a crisis of our Constitutional and our moral values and a real test for our country.”
Price was surrounded by approximately two dozen advocates and refugees in downtown Durham protesting the immigration ban that targeted seven predominately Muslim countries.
“And all this because eight days into office, the president issued the most reckless, irresponsible, destructive kind of executive order that you could imagine.”
Price said the safety of Americans is ensured through the vetting process currently in place for refugees.
“Who for years have been working to get in this country, who have played by the rules, who have cleared all the hurdles, who have been vetted and vetted and vetted,” Price said of those seeking asylum. “And he’s doing this perpetuating the notion that there’s some kind of threat from these people.”
Price went beyond criticizing Trump to target the president’s advisers.
“I think in addition to being morally reprehensible,” Price said, “President Trump’s action shows the pitfalls of surrounding himself with amateur advisers. Advisers who may be long on ideology but certainly are short on competence, short on experience, short on any sense of this country’s history.”
Multiple refugees spoke through translators at the press conference. One told the story of being granted asylum less than a year ago but having to leave behind family.
Price said that this would be an early gut-check moment for Republicans under the Trump administration.
“I think some people’s patriotism is going to be tested,” Price said. “Some people’s fidelity to the Constitution is going to be tested, maybe sooner than we throught.”
Price said he would be co-sponsoring legislation to rescind the executive order.
