Speech #CREC-2017-01-30-pt1-PgS462-2_t0

I could not disagree more with the intention behind the order, but the haphazard and completely incompetent way in which it was implemented made matters even worse. Third, and most important of all, the order should be reversed because it is un-American. We are a nation founded by the descendants of asylum seekers, a nation that has been constantly invigorated, replenished, and driven forward by immigrants, many millions of whom came under duress, seeking a new birth of freedom in America. The ability to find refuge from persecution, whether based on one's religion or race or political views, goes to the very foundation of the country, starting with the Pilgrims and Plymouth Rock. The Executive order is antithetical to everything we are about. President Trump seems to want people to believe that all immigrants are terrorists or criminals, but when you meet immigrants, you see they are not the face of terrorism; they are families just like ours. Yesterday I met two. They were at my office. Mr. Hameed, an Iraqi refugee, worked at a local university department in English literature and, because he loved our country and what we were trying to do, he chose to use his language skills to be a translator for American soldiers in Iraq. He worked as a translator for the U.S. Army in Iraq for 10 years. He endured death threats and harassment to himself and to his family because he was helping us and our soldiers. So he began the refugee process about 2 years ago. He arrived on January 5. If Donald Trump had been inaugurated on January 1 and enacted his order 6 weeks sooner, Mr.