(Houston, TX)—On Monday, January 30, 2017, Congressman Al Green (TX-09) released the following statement on President Trump’s anti-refugee and anti-Muslim executive order.

“Incendiary branding, invidious bans, and tall walls will not make America great.

“Incendiary branding (unjustly defining people negatively) usually precedes onerous deeds. Labeling Mexicans as ‘criminals, drug-dealers, [and] rapists’ was the incendiary branding that preceded the onerous call for a tall wall to protect us (the U.S.) from Mexicans. Labeling Islam (one of the world’s great religions) as ‘radical Islam’ was the onerous, incendiary branding that preceded the invidious ban of people from predominantly Islamic countries.

“If we did not brand the KKK, a self-proclaimed Christian group, as a representation of Christianity, then we should not brand a group of hatemongers and murderers as a representation of Islam. When we do this, we allow hate to claim a larger platform.

“Making real our great American ideals is what makes America great: the great American ideal of liberty and justice for all as extolled in the Pledge of Allegiance, the great American ideal of all persons being created equal as exalted in the Declaration of Independence, the great American ideal of welcoming the ‘huddled masses yearning to be free’ as evoked by the Statue of Liberty are hallmarks of America’s greatness.

“Incendiary branding, invidious bans, and tall walls will not make America great.”