WASHINGTON, D.C. — There are two very different reactions from two members of West Virginia’s Congressional Delegation to the executive order signed by President Donald Trump last weekend.
The order puts a moratorium on those coming to the country from seven nations with mostly Muslim populations. The ban is for 90 days on some of those countries, but suspends entrance of Syrian refugees indefinitely.
“For those having great reactions to this with rallies, which we see all over the press, I think they’re over reacting,” said Congressman Alex Mooney (WV2) “We still have the greatest country in the world. We still welcome immigrants who want to come here legally, as my mother did and many of our ancestors did. A 90-day pause is gone in the blink of an eye.”
The announcement of the order from the White House caught some off guard. There was also confusion in the introduction, which has since been clarified to a certain extent. Those with green cards and already in the process of becoming U.S. Citizens are not affected.
However, U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV) doesn’t like the process by which the order was crafted. Manchin says it was unconventional and lacked adequate oversight from key leaders like Defense Secretary James Mattis, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, and CIA Director Mike Pompeo.
“Mattis, Kelly, and Pompeo were basically bypassed and had no input into this decision,” said Manchin on MetroNews Talkline. “In fact, they had staffers who worked on committees in the House and Senate that had to sign non-disclosure. They couldn’t even tell their bosses, the Congressmen, they were working on this order.”
Manchin explained the Senate rapidly confirmed Trump’s security team on a fast track to be in place to handle such orders and issues. The Senator said bypassing those in the know and more brazenly shielding Congress from the process was not the way to create the plan. Manchin was further angered about the whole idea on its surface.
“There’s not a senator or congressman, Republican or Democrat who supports President Trump or doesn’t support him that doesn’t want to make sure we keep terrorists from this country,” Manchin said. “But let’s make sure we have a purpose and a reason for doing it.”
Manchin suggested the proper way to have handled the matter, if the president identified a problem, was to send the security team to Capitol Hill for a classified briefing of the Intelligence Committees and show why it was necessary. Manchin isn’t convinced it was.
“Saying people who had green cards or refugees who’ve already gone through an extreme vetting process that they are back in consideration again and we’ve had no problems, there’s just got to be some common sense.” Manchin said.
My statement on the Administration’s executive order on immigration vetting measures: pic.twitter.com/Q32wsAl5nx
— Senator Joe Manchin (@Sen_JoeManchin) January 30, 2017
But Mooney continued to downplay the dramatics raised in protests across the country to the President’s order.
“I don’t know why everybody is so surprised after what the President said during the campaign,” Mooney said. “It’s a pause in the program just to make sure we know whose coming and going.”