State Department dissent memo over Trump’s immigration ban reaches 900 signatures

The memo was reportedly submitted to management on Monday

Protesters hold signs during a demonstration against the immigration ban that was imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump at Los Angeles International Airport on January 29, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Justin Sullivan/Getty)

An internal State Department dissent memo, declaring that President Trump’s temporary travel ban on citizens from seven Muslim majority countries would not make the country safer, has reached more than 900 signatures.

A senior official with the department told Reuters that the memo was submitted to management on Tuesday.

White House press secretary Sean Spicer acknowledged the memo Monday but said that diplomats should "get with the program” or “they can go."

The letter, titled “Subject: Visa Applicants at Consulate General Dubai Seek Clarification on Executive Order” was drafted over the weekend and has consistently been edited by members of the department’s dissent channel. According to The Intercept, it examines the order’s effect on green card holders, visa applicants, and the elderly.

“‘By the time the ban is lifted, my son is going to be dead from cancer,’ said an Iranian couple that had been hoping to visit their ailing child in the United States,” the memo reads. “‘Tell President Trump that my government is the terrorist,’ pleaded another Iranian applicant, ‘but we the people are not terrorists.’”