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Boston Mayor Marty Walsh On Trump’s Immigration Order: ‘This Is Not America’

By Chanel Adams
Published on: 08:15 PST, Jan 29, 2017

Boston Mayor Marty Walsh and Senator Elizabeth Warren have been joining protestors at Logan airport this weekend in the wake of President Donald Trump’s executive order banning Muslims from certain countries.

Protesters first gathered at major airports across the nation on Saturday and have gathered again on Sunday to protest Trump’s ban on foreign refugees, as well as travelers from certain predominately Muslim countries. The order, which was temporarily halted by several federal judges, have led to over a hundred travelers, including several Boston-area academics, from being denied entry into the United States.

One of the protests took place at Boston’s Logan Airport, where hundreds of protestors gathered outside the international terminal for several hours on Saturday night, chanting slogans such as “Let them in.”

Several local elected officials, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, and City Councilor Tito Jackson, Attorney General Maura Healey have also made appearances in support of the peaceful protest.

“I’m here because this is not who we are as America,” Walsh said to the protestors, as quoted by Boston.com. “This is not who we should be or who we are as a country.”

Walsh also stated that Trump’s reason for the ban is for security reasons is just a “spin.”

“This has nothing to do with terrorism,” Walsh stated.

Warren also spoke out about the ban and said that persecuting anyone “for their religious beliefs is an attack on the very foundation of democracy.”

boston mayor marty walsh organizes protest
[Image by Jared Wickerham/Getty Images]

“We are better people than that,” Warren said, as quoted by the Boston Globe. “It is an honor to be here with you, to stand with you, to speak with you, and most of all, to fight shoulder to shoulder with you.”

Demonstrators changed outside the terminal as Nathaniel Meyer played “Amazing Grace,” “This Land Is Your Land,” and “We Shall Overcome” on his trumpet.

“Hopefully it will add something to do tonight,” Meyer told the news outlet.

On Friday, Jan. 27, Trump issued an executive order that placed a 90-day restriction on immigration from seven countries with predominantly Muslim populations. The order also bans admission for refugees for 120 days and suspends the admission of Syrian refugees. Logan is one of the many major airport protests across the nation, including John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York and Los Angeles International Airport.

The protest lasted several hours after 10:30 p.m. on Saturday night and continued the next morning on Sunday. When the last traveler of the day was processed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection and had emerged from the international arrivals gates to an awaiting and cheering crowd.

Then, on Twitter on Sunday morning, Walsh invited his followers to join him in a protest at Copley Square at 1 p.m., as organized by The Massachusetts chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, reports MassLive.

“We’ll fight today, and we’ll fight tomorrow,” Walsh tweeted.

This latest demonstration comes a day after CNN published an op-ed by Walsh entitled, “Why cities will protect immigrants.” In the op-ed, Walsh talks about being a child of immigrants and the importance of the immigration population to Boston’s economy and culture.

“If we are concerned about economic impacts, we have to recognize how much we depend on immigrants. In Boston, immigrants reflect a significant amount of medical and life science workers; more than one-third of all business owners; and 22% of our university students. Immigrants also contributed $3.5 billion to our city’s economy in consumer spending alone.”

In response to Trump’s executive order, Walsh said that opponents have the U.S. Constitution on their side.

“I will do everything lawful within my power to protect our immigrant neighbors, documented or not. If necessary, I will use City Hall itself to shelter and protect them from persecution,” Walsh continued.

Earlier this week, during an impromptu press conference at City Hall on Wednesday, Walsh responded to Trump’s plans to pull federal funding from cities like Boston that refuse to work with his immigration policy.

“If people want to live here, they’ll live here. They can use my office. They can use any office in this building.”

Walsh also called Trump’s immigration stance a “direct attack” on everyone who lives in the United States.

[Featured Image by Alex Wong/Getty Images]

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