Fischer to host pro-immigration rally Monday

Mayor Greg Fischer announced a rally with Louisville civic, faith and other community leaders will take place Monday at the Muhammad Ali Center in response to President Donald Trump's controversial executive orders that kept an untold number of refugees from entering the U.S. on Saturday.

Fischer said in a tweet Saturday evening the event is "to voice support for our nation and our city, which was founded and is strengthened by immigrants."

Trump's executive actions, enacted on Friday, bar Syrian refugees indefinitely while prohibiting refugees from six other predominately Muslim countries — Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen — for 90 days. The presidential decrees have also suspended the entry of all refugees for 120 days.

The decision rumbled through the country on Saturday with refugees being detained at U.S. airports, sparking protests and a lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union. It has also been met with a sharp rebuke by Trump's critics.

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Speaking to reporters from the Oval Office, Trump said his executive orders are "not a Muslim ban," which is what he called for during the 2016 presidential campaign in response to terror attacks. His administration has said the block on refugees is meant to protect the homeland from foreign nationals and to implement a more rigorous vetting process.

"It's working out very nicely," Trump said. "You see it at the airports, you see it all over."

Louisville has seen its immigrant population grow immensely in past 20 years, according to demographers.

Roughly 50,345 Louisville residents were born outside the U.S., which amounts to about 7 percent of the overall population. And about half of the city's foreign-born population originate in one of five countries, the most predominate being Mexico, at 14.3 percent, followed closely by Cuba, India, Bosnia and China.

Fischer's "Rally for American Values" will take place Monday at 6 p.m. at the Muhammad Ali Center, 144 N. 6th St.

Reporter Phillip M. Bailey can be reached at (502) 582-4475 or pbailey@courier-journal.com.

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