Dem Leaders Rally Outside Supreme Court To Protest Immigration Order

Congressional Democratic leadership rallied on the steps of the Supreme Court on Monday night to protest President Donald Trump’s executive order temporarily barring visitors from seven predominantly Muslim countries.

The rally got off to an slow start when apparent problems with the sound system led the crowd to start singing “This Land Is Your Land.” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) spoke first.

“What the President did undermines our values and is not in support of the oath of office we take to support and defend the Constitution of the United States,” she said. “What the President has done is not in the interest of security.”

She called the order “reckless and rash” and quoted “The New Colossus,” a poem written by Emma Lazarus in 1883 and inscribed on a plaque mounted inside the Statue of Liberty’s pedestal.

“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,” Pelosi said. “You know the rest. It’s a statement of values of our country. It’s a recognition that the strength of our country is in our diversity, that the revitalization constantly of America comes from our immigrant population.”

She introduced Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY).

“This order is against what we believe in in America,” Schumer said. “The order will make us unsafe, the order will make us inhumane and the order will make us less of America.”

He said that the order will encourage “lone wolf” attackers and alienate overseas allies.

“America for its history has been a shining beacon and it has said, we welcome you if you are oppressed because of your religion, because of your political beliefs, because of who you are,” Schumer said. “We will not let this evil order make us less American. We will fight it with everything we have and we will win this fight.”