By Mallory Shelbourne - 01-29-17 12:30 PM EST
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Sunday said Democrats are considering legislation to overturn President Donald Trump's recent executive actions on immigration.
"If we get a few more Republicans, I think we might be able to pass legislation to overturn it," Schumer said at a press conference in New York. "It will be up to getting more Republicans."
Schumer noted that Sens. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) have already spoken out against Trump's order.
"These orders go against what America has always been about. The orders make us less humanitarian, less safe, less American," Schumer said.
"We're demanding the president reverse these executive orders that go against what we are, everything we have always stood for," he said.
Choking back tears, Schumer, called the order "mean-spirited and un-American."
"We're here today to deliver a vociferous 'no' to the president and the misguided executive orders that are shocking to a majority of Americans and are inflicting wounds on this country," he said.
Trump on Friday signed an executive order calling for a 90-day ban on nationals from seven predominantly Muslim countries entering the United States. The order also included a 120-day ban on admitting refugees and an indefinite halt on admitting refugees from Syria.
"I think ultimately this ban will be struck down by the courts, but we need to put legislation on the table that Republicans could support, that overturns the ban," Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) told The Washington Post on Sunday.
Murphy reportedly plans to use the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act in his efforts.
Schumer at the press conference said he spoke with Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly twice to voice his opposition to Trump's orders.
"I spoke to him this morning and one little bit of small good news amidst all of this is that there are now 42 Americans that are at our airports that are detained, that fit under the court order, that the judge issued last night," Schumer said.
A judge issued an emergency stay late Saturday to stop the removal of those detained following Trump's order.
"There was a great deal of worry that they would be sent back, that the order wouldn't be obeyed. Secretary Kelly assured me that the order will be obeyed and those 42 will be processed and allowed to come to America," Schumer said.
He said Kelly had also told him the order would not affect green-card holders, but claimed White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus was less clear about that on NBC's "Meet The Press."
Priebus said if a person is traveling back and forth to one of the seven countries included in the order, that person is likely to be "subjected temporarily with more questioning until a better program is put in place."
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