Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — Two leading GOP senators, John McCain and Lindsey Graham, on Sunday joined a small group of other GOP elected officials in criticizing fellow Republican President Trump’s executive order on immigration and refugees.

McCain of Arizona and Graham of South Carolina issued a joint statement affirming that, “Our government has a responsibility to defend our borders.”

But they continued that, “We must do so in a way that makes us safer and upholds all that is decent and exceptional about our nation.”

“It is clear from the confusion at our airports across the nation that President Trump’s executive order was not properly vetted,” the senators said. “We are particularly concerned by reports that this order went into effect with little to no consultation with the Departments of State, Defense, Justice, and Homeland Security.

“Such a hasty process risks harmful results,” the statement said. “Ultimately, we fear this executive order will become a self-inflicted wound in the fight against terrorism … Our most important allies in the fight against ISIL are the vast majority of Muslims who reject its apocalyptic ideology of hatred.”

“We fear this executive order may do more to help terrorist recruitment than improve our security,” they said.

A handful of other Republicans were part of a chorus over the weekend slamming order that restricts entry into the U.S. by citizens of seven majority-Muslim countries.

Most were concerned that the travel ban is too broad and questioned its effectiveness in lessening the threat of terrorism.

Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, issued a statement Saturday titled “Border Security and Muslim Nations” in which he said the ban was too far-reaching.

“The President is right to focus attention on the obvious fact that borders matter,” he said. “At the same time, while not technically a Muslim ban, this order is too broad.”

Sasse, who was critical of Trump during the presidential campaign but has moved to support him in office, also questioned if the ban was the most effective way to fight jihadism, and if it will actually fuel further terrorism.

“There are two ways to lose our generational battle against jihadism by losing touch with reality,” he said. “The first is to keep pretending that jihadi terrorism has no connection to Islam or to certain countries. That’s been a disaster. And here’s the second way to fail: If we send a signal to the Middle East that the U.S. sees all Muslims as jihadis, the terrorist recruiters win by telling kids that America is banning Muslims and that this is America versus one religion. Both approaches are wrong, and both will make us less safe. Our generational fight against jihadism requires wisdom.”

Statement on Border Security and Muslim Nations: https://t.co/aA4OEaKDkb pic.twitter.com/lh7mrEyrZV

— Senator Ben Sasse (@SenSasse) January 28, 2017

Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake also suggested that the travel ban is too broad.

“President Trump and his administration are right to be concerned about national security, but it’s unacceptable when even legal permanent residents are being detained or turned away at airports and ports of entry,” Flake said in a statement Saturday. “Enhancing long-term national security requires that we have a clear-eyed view of radical Islamic terrorism without ascribing radical Islamic terrorist views to all Muslims.”

My view on immigration executive order https://t.co/9PvXbqE5JK

— Jeff Flake (@JeffFlake) January 29, 2017

As for GOP members of the House of Representatives, Charlie Dent of Pennsylvania echoed Sasse and Flake’s concerns that the ban is too far-reaching, as well as questioning how it will affect U.S.-based multinational companies.

“This order appears to have been rushed through without full consideration to the wide-ranging impacts it will have,” Dent said in a statement to ABC News. “As a result, I fear that this order may imperil lives, divide families, and create uncertainty for many American businesses that operate internationally.”

He added, “This is unacceptable and I urge the Administration to halt enforcement of the order until a more thoughtful and deliberate policy can be instated.”

Dent also said that he had been working to assist a Syrian Christian family who held valid visas but were detained at Philadelphia International Airport and forced to leave the country.

Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan, a libertarian whose parents immigrated to the U.S. from the Middle East, wrote a series of tweets Saturday slamming Trump and his executive order.

1/ Like Pres. Obama’s executive actions on immigration, Pres. Trump’s executive order overreaches and undermines our constitutional system.

— Justin Amash (@justinamash) January 28, 2017

“Like Pres. Obama’s executive actions on immigration, Pres. Trump’s executive order overreaches and undermines our constitutional system,” he wrote, adding, “It’s not lawful to ban immigrants on basis of nationality. If the president wants to change immigration law, he must work with Congress.”

In another pair of tweets, Amash wrote, “The president’s denial of entry to lawful permanent residents of the United States (green card holders) is particularly troubling. … Green card holders live in the United States as our neighbors and serve in our Armed Forces. They deserve better.”

His final tweet read, “While EO allows admittance of immigrants, nonimmigrants, and refugees ‘on a case-by-case basis,’ arbitrariness would violate Rule of Law.”

GOP Reps. Mike Coffman of Colorado and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania also questioned the effectiveness of the administration’s order.

Fitzpatrick, a former FBI special agent, said in a statement the action “entirely misses the mark,” while Coffman said he opposed a travel ban based on “ethnic or religious grounds.”

Moderate Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said in a statement the order is “overly broad,” and called its implementation “immediately problematic.”

“For example, it could interfere with the immigration of Iraqis who worked for American forces in Iraq as translators and body guards — people who literally saved the lives of our troops and diplomats during the last decade and whose lives are at risk if they remain in Iraq.”

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, called on Trump to more narrowly tailor the visa ban to reduce “unnecessary burdens on the vast majority of visa-seekers that present a promise – not a threat — to our nation.”

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