Democratic Reps. Dina Titus and Ruben Kihuen pushed back on President Donald Trump’s executive order barring refugees and citizens of seven Muslim countries from entering the United States at a news conference on Saturday.

Titus called the ban on admitting refugees from a war-torn countries like Syria “morally reprehensible,” pointing to the images on the news of children drowned on beaches, houses destroyed and cities razed. She highlighted the extensive vetting process by the United Nations and the Department of Homeland Security that refugees go through before being admitted to the United States.

“It’s not like they’re just walking in the door,” Titus said. “It is very difficult to be a political refugee.”

She also noted potential economic impacts to Las Vegas as an international tourism destination.

“With actions like this from the president you’re going to make it harder for them to come and also less appealing,” Titus said. “There are economic as well as moral reasons for why this is such a terrible kind of action.”

Trump's executive order, issued late Friday afternoon, bars all refugees from entering the United States for 120 days and blocks Syrian refugees indefinitely. It also stops immigration for 90 days from seven Muslim-majority countries: Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen.

Kihuen encouraged people to reach out to their Republican and Democratic representatives to ask them to condemn the president’s executive orders.

“We are a better country than this so we are here to condemn the president’s actions,” Kihuen said. “We’re also here to send a message to our constituents that our offices are here to help.”

Photo courtesy of Mstyslav Chernov under Creative Commons.