[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 20 (Monday, February 6, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Page S686]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                               Travel Ban

  Madam President, second, the President's Executive order on 
immigration and refugees is so poorly constructed, so haphazardly 
implemented, so constitutionally dubious, so wrong in terms of what 
America is all about, and so contrary to our basic values as Americans 
that my Republican friends should feel a duty to country to help us 
rescind it. Several Members on the other side--I think it is over a 
dozen--have expressed concerns about it. Several spoke out strongly and 
unequivocally about imposing any type of ban during the campaign, but 
now that we have such a ban, they are unfortunately silent. It is time 
for that silence to end and for Republicans to step up to the plate and 
start backing up their words with actions.
  On Friday, the order was temporarily blocked by a Federal judge, 
Judge Robart. On Saturday, the President questioned his court 
credibility via tweet and then asked the country to blame any potential 
attacks on the country on the judge and the courts. He is not a ``so-
called'' judge as the President tweeted but rather a Senate-confirmed 
Bush appointee. That is not how we do things here in America.
  There is a separation of powers for a reason. An independent 
judiciary is absolutely necessary to ensure Presidents and Congresses 
do not break the law or impinge on the Constitution, but this President 
has shown a certain callousness when it comes to judges who rule 
against his whim--Judge Curiel during the campaign and Judge Robart 
now. Instead of attacking the judge, the President should be working 
with Congress to tighten up security where it is actually needed.
  The President has said that if there are attacks, the judge will be 
to blame. I will remind him that not one attack on U.S. soil has been 
perpetrated by a refugee from one of the seven countries in the 
Executive order. This order doesn't make us any safer; if anything, the 
Executive order increases the risk of lone wolf attacks, our greatest 
threat. That is what happened in San Bernardino, it is what happened in 
Orlando, and no authority less than Senator John McCain has said 
exactly that--that it will increase the likelihood of attacks by lone 
wolves, those disaffected people who are egged on by the evil ISIS.
  So I make this offer to my friends on the other side of the aisle: 
Join Democrats in rescinding the Executive order, and we will work with 
you in a bipartisan way in good faith to actually make our country 
safer. Close up that visa waiver program where people from countries--
just because they are generally friendly to us--are not checked. We 
know places such as France and Belgium have homegrown terrorists lured 
by ISIS. They can get on a plane and come here far more easily than a 
refugee from those seven countries. Let's tighten that up. Instead, the 
President gives us this Executive order. Lord knows how he came to it. 
Every expert on terrorism will say there are a lot more important and 
better things that we need to do.
  So let me repeat: The stakes are too high for party loyalty to stand 
in the way of doing what is right to protect this country. We ought to 
scrap the order and start over. The order not only does not protect us 
from terrorism but makes it worse. It stands in the face of what 
America is all about. Our country has welcomed immigrants, and the 
beautiful lady with the torch in the harbor of the city in which I live 
has beckoned us for generations.