Shannon,
Acting Secretary, Department of State,
Washington, DC. Secretary Kelly, Acting Attorney General Yates, Acting
Secretary Shannon: As former cabinet Secretaries, senior
government officials, diplomats, military service members and
intelligence community professionals who have served in the
Bush and Obama administrations, we, the undersigned, have
worked for many years to make America strong and our homeland
secure. Therefore, we are writing to you to express our deep
concern with President Trump's recent Executive Order
directed at the immigration system, refugees and visitors to
this country. This Order not only jeopardizes tens of
thousands of lives, it has caused a crisis right here in
America and will do long-term damage to our national
security. In the middle of the night, just as.we were beginning our
nation's commemoration of the Holocaust, dozens of refugees
onboard flights to the United States and thousands of
visitors were swept up in an Order of unprecedented scope,
apparently with little to no oversight or input from national
security professionals. Individuals, who have passed through multiple rounds of
robust security vetting, including just before their
departure, were detained, some reportedly without access to
lawyers, right here in U.S. airports. They include not only
women and children whose lives have been upended by actual
radical terrorists, but brave individuals who put their own
lives on the line and worked side-by-side with our men and
women in uniform in Iraq now fighting against ISIL.
Keywords matched
immigration refugees