Several hundred people, including DNC Chairman Tom Perez, attended a rally outside the White House on March 6th in response to President Trump’s executive order barring refugees and individuals from six Muslim-majority countries.
Calling the executive order “reprehensible” and declaring it no better than a previous version now suspended by the courts, FCNL Lobbyist for Human Rights and Civil Liberties Yasmine Taeb organized the rally with support from Democracy Partners and more than three dozen other organizations.
Though it now excludes Iraq from the “travel ban” and no longer impacts people with visas and green cards, the order still suspends the US refugee resettlement program and prevents people from six Muslim-majority countries from coming to the United States.
By making superficial changes to the original executive order, the Trump administration is merely putting “lipstick on a pig,” Taeb said. “This executive order, like the old one, violates our core values of religious liberty, protection of the vulnerable, and welcome to all,” she said.
In his remarks, Perez referenced his own family’s immigrant experience. “America was that land of opportunity,” Perez said. “And that is why, for me, this isn’t just a matter of interpretation of the Constitution. It is about who we are as a nation.”
Speakers at the rally hailed from a wide range of organizations, including the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, MoveOn.org, the National LGBTQ Task Force, the immigrant rights organization CASA, and a number of Jewish groups, but emphasized the need for unity and collective action in the face of threats to marginalized communities.
