University of Chicago Democrats (UCDems) released a statement on Facebook on Sunday condemning President Donald Trump’s executive order banning immigration from seven majority-Muslim countries and limiting U.S. acceptance of refugees.
“Donald Trump’s executive order is unconstitutional. It is perverse and evil. It is reckless. It is the antithesis of smart governance. It is the absence of integrity. It is deeply characteristic of our new president,” UCDems wrote.
The order, which was signed on Friday afternoon, blocks immigration from seven Muslim-majority nations—Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen—for 90 days. It bars entry to the country for Syrian refugees indefinitely, and bars refugees from any other country for 120 days.
Third-year Rachel Neuburger, the president of UCDems, said that while a lot has happened in the past 10 days of Trump’s presidency, this order prompted them to speak because it was “particularly egregious.”
“It attacks the human rights and the constitutional rights of a lot of people, some of whom go to this school, and I think that it also illustrates the indifference that many members of our Congress have to some groups’ human rights and illustrates how willing they are to roll over for Donald Trump,” Neuburger said.
UCDems also chose to share a statement in the comments of their post by Keith Ellison, a representative for Minnesota who is the first Muslim elected to Congress. “This executive order runs contrary to everything we cherish about America,” he said.
At the end of their statement, UCDems invited students to join them in “speaking up and out” against the radical policies of the current administration. UCDems will be participating in two upcoming phone banks to organize both Illinois residents and students across the country.