Donald Trump is experiencing his first crisis as president as opposition grows to his executive order limiting immigration. Protests are burgeoning around the country; some members of Congress are up in arms, and Trump, while fighting back, has yet to control the damage to his new administration or show that he is a capable crisis manager.

Democrats, immigration advocates, the media and even a few fellow Republicans in Congress are faulting Trump for his unilateral moves designed to limit immigration and control terrorism, moves which he promised to implement during his presidential campaign. But his critics say the actions are too extreme, were poorly planned, and have created a sense of chaos. The critics say Trump is adopting policies that are counter-productive because they could turn many Muslims against the United States, spur more terrorist attacks, and give people around the world the impression that the United States no longer welcomes immigrants seeking a better life or refugees who are fleeing oppression.

But Trump hasn't backed off. He wrote on Twitter Sunday that it's time to severely limit the entry of refugees and many legal immigrants to the United States so authorities can give them "extreme vetting" and avoid the 'horrible mess" of rising terrorism around the world. "Our country needs strong borders and extreme vetting, NOW," Trump tweeted. "Look what is happening all over Europe and, indeed, the world--a horrible mess!" Later on Sunday, he tweeted, "More Christians in the Middle-East have been executed in large numbers. We cannot allow this horror to continue!"

Trump then issued a formal statement that read, "America is a proud nation of immigrants and we will continue to show compassion to those fleeing oppression but we will do so while protecting our own citizens and border. ...My policy is similar to what President Obama did in 2011 when he banned visas for refugees from Iraq for six months. The seven countries named in the executive order are the same countries previously identified by the Obama administration as sources of terror. To be clear, this is not a Muslim ban, as the media is falsely reporting. This is not about religion--this is about terror and keeping our country safe."

Trump issued the executive order Friday to halt all refugee admissions to the United States for 120 days, to ban Syrian refugees indefinitely, and to suspend for 90 days the ability of visa holders to enter the United States from seven Muslim-majority countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen--if they don't have a waiver. Trump also directed that U.S. legal permanent residents who come from these seven countries get additional screening upon their return to the United States from abroad. And people of dual citizenship were prohibited from entering the United States if one of their nationalities was from the seven countries.

Thousands Protest Immigration Ban View All 25 Images

Several judges issued orders to block the executive actions until the legal situation could be clarified, and several Democratic state attorneys general were considering lawsuits to challenge the president's actions.

Protests mounted across the country, and Trump's critics pounced. "Our most important allies in the fight against ISIL [Islamic terrorists] are the vast majority of Muslims who reject its apocalyptic ideology of hatred," Republican Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina declared in a joint statement Sunday. "This executive order sends a signal, intended or not, that America does not want Muslims coming into our country. That is why we fear this executive order may do more to help terrorist recruitment than improve our security."

Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said, "The vetting process itself needed more vetting. While not explicitly a religious test, it comes close to one which is inconsistent with our American character."

A particular sore point was that Iraqis who had risked their lives as interpreters for U.S. forces in Iraq were apparently included in the immigration and refugee ban. Military veterans and their advocates in Congress were particularly upset at this provision.

Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, the Senate Democratic leader, told reporters that Trump's actions were "mean-spirited and un-American" and said they "must be reversed immediately." "Senate Democrats are going to introduce legislation to overturn this and move it as quickly as we can. I, as your senator from New York, will claw, scrap and fight with every fiber of my being until these orders are overturned."