A group of Democratic Senators led by Connecticut Democrat Chris Murphy announced on Twitter Sunday that they plan to introduce a bill this week to overturn President Trump’s Executive Action on immigration, also known as “extreme vetting.”
When asked by a panelist on Morning Joe if Trump’s order actually made us less safe, Sen. Murphy agreed in no uncertain terms, saying, “So this ultimately is going to get Americans killed. I believe it. And we can make the moral argument, I think that’s important, but the National Security argument probably should lead here.”
During the television appearance, Murphy seemed to concede they don’t have a prayer of making the bill into law, but believed they might have enough Republican Senators who will consider joining the legislation that it would at least make things even more uncomfortable for the Trump administration moving forward.
Sen. Murphy said the best bet was to fight Trump in court and get judges to chip away at the order piece by piece.
Senator Murphy said the legislation option, however, “will [seek to] make it clear that the 1965 law that says you can’t discriminate based on religion or national origin prevails over any presidential discretion that Trump is using.”
The Senator then suggested the order possibly hurts our credibility overseas with Middle Eastern countries. Host Joe Scarborough jumped in and challenged him on that point.
“Wait, wait– I have to say Senator because I know there are a lot of people watching who will say well Barack Obama in effect had a Syrian ban from 2011 to 2015. He ignored the red line. And we as a country didn’t create a safe zone. This is a long-lasting problem right?” Scarborough asked during this Monday appearance.
Sen. Murphy continued to argue “that increased US military intervention would make that country more unstable, would get more people killed.”
He later concluded by saying the Democrats’ frustration is that Republican members of the Senate are not joining in with them in great numbers. Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer also announced plans Monday to call a floor vote to overturn the Executive Order.
[image via screengrab]