Relatives and friends of 9/11 victims protest Trump travel ban

Several friends and family members of victims killed in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks spoke out this week against President Trump’s executive order banning citizens of certain Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S.

Ten people who had friends or relatives who died in the attacks protested the travel ban at Battery Park in New York City, denouncing the president’s use of 9/11 victims to justify his order, the New York Daily News reported.

“I felt sick to my stomach to see that he lists 9/11 [as a rationale for the ban],” Terry McGovern, whose mother was in the South Tower when it fell, told the Daily News. “My mother would have hated this — the use of her death to justify banning people.”

{mosads}One protester, Talat Hamdani, accused the Trump administration of using the victims to achieve a political end, calling the order “immoral and unethical.”

“The current administration is trying to exploit our pain,” said Hamdani, whose son was a police officer killed while responding to the attack.

“They are vultures,” she added. “They are picking on the blood of 9/11. It is immoral and unethical. This country was founded by immigrants.”

Trump’s Jan. 27 executive order barred travel to the U.S. for citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries: Syria, Iraq, Iran, Yemen, Libya, Sudan and Somalia. It also halted the country’s refugee resettlement program.

A federal appeals court in San Francisco refused to reinstate the order last week after a judge in Seattle blocked it.

Trump harshly criticized the appeals court’s decision, arguing tougher vetting of those entering the U.S. is necessary for national security. He has signaled he will issue a new executive order that could stand legal muster.