Hatch on Visa and Refugee Order

Statement

Senator Orrin G. Hatch, the senior Republican in the United States Senate, issued the following statement on President Donald Trump's recent order entitled "Protecting the Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into the United States":

"The current situation in the war-torn Middle East presents a number of challenges regarding our efforts to protect Americans from the threat of terrorism while holding true to our legal and moral obligations to help the innocent victims of these terrible conflicts. In particular, as a lifelong member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I am acutely aware that many of my own ancestors--as well as the ancestors of many other Latter-day Saints--were themselves refugees, religious minorities violently driven from their homes who undertook a long and dangerous journey to build a new life in a distant land."

"President Trump has described his recent order as a means "[to] temporarily reduce investigative burdens on relevant agencies.' In this spirit, I urge the new administration to move quickly to tailor its policy on visa issuance as narrowly as possible so that officials can protect our security needs while reducing unnecessary burdens on the vast majority of visa-seekers that present a promise--not a threat--to our nation. Doing this as expeditiously as possible will achieve our shared goals of keeping the country we love safe, free, and a beacon of justice to the world."

Source