Rockers React to Donald Trump’s New Immigration Restrictions
Reactions from rockers ran the gamut in the wake of President Donald Trump's executive order barring citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States.
On one end of the spectrum, Bruce Springsteen said "America is a nation of immigrants, and we find this anti-democratic and fundamentally un-American." Ted Nugent, meanwhile, wondered why "sunbaked liberals" think it's "more important to not hurt our enemies feelings" than it is to protect "America from visitors from jihadist nations." Rather than overtly protest, artists like Peter Frampton have been regularly retweeting a series of statements and stories critical of the administration, with the hashtag #resist. Duff McKagan joined him in sharing an item questioning the executive order.
Trump's order, which came down abruptly on Friday afternoon, resulted in chaos across the U.S. as airline travelers were pulled off planes and detained -- some of whom were legal green-card holders. The admission of all refugees was also suspended for 120 days, even as protests erupted nationwide and then elsewhere.
"Tonight, we want to add our voices to the thousands of Americans who are protesting at airports around our country against the Muslim ban and the detention of foreign nationals and refugees," Springsteen said onstage in Adelaide, Australia, before launching into "American Song" from 2012's Wrecking Ball – a track he described as "an immigrant song."
On Friday, Trump said his actions would "keep radical Islamic terrorists out of the United States of America" as he signed the order, adding: "We don't want them here." A federal judge in New York later blocked the deportation of those stranded in U.S. airports under the executive action.
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