Mayor Garcetti: 'Religious discrimination is absolutely anti-American'

(FOX 11) - Mayor Eric Garcetti stood on stage Wednesday at the Islamic Center of Southern California and said, "Religious discrimination is absolutely anti-American."

On the same stage, Councilman Mitch O'Farrell proclaimed, "It is up to all of us to speak out."

All of the community and religious leaders with O'Farrell and Garcetti did a lot of "speaking out" about the executive orders of President Trump and specifically, the travel ban of seven mainly-Muslim nations,

"An executive order that is patently unconstitutional and is absolutely against the law established in 1965, you can not single out people from countries as a reason to not have them come in," Garcetti said.

John Goya, with a group that supports the president called "Make California Great Again, Inc" (MCGA), told FOX 11,"I think the mayor's wrong. I think the president is doing the right thing. We need to vet people who are coming in."

Goya doesn't agree with city leaders like Councilman O'Farrell who is pushing city legislation to make resources available to those caught in the ban's confusion while lawsuits are being pushed in the courts for, as O'Farrell put it, "… denying due process under the law for people that have already been vetted to enter the United States."

"This is not a Muslim ban. This is simply a ban for 90 days," Goya said, who is MCGA's CFO.

He acknowledged that some people were stopped at airports that perhaps should not have been.

"In the beginning, we're going to make mistakes," he said.

Overall, he believes what's going on is what Trump voters wanted. Certainly, not what Mayor Garcetti wants.

At the Islamic Center Garcetti said, "To everybody in Los Angeles I want to say over and over that no matter what your ethnicity, no matter how you worship God, no matter who you love, no matter what language you speak, no matter what your age is, no matter what your social background is you belong in Los Angeles. You belong here in America. There is no them when it comes to these groups… there's only us."

Goya replied, "There's only us - US - I agree with the mayor and I agree with what the mayor is saying but we also have to vet people that are coming in that are not us."

At the Islamic Center, Garcetti reminded those gathered, "Let's not lose our heads these days. Also, let's not lose our values. We're here for the long haul and nothing can take us off this steady path. This is not about fighting one person. This is about standing up for one's values."

Copyright 2017 FOX 11 Los Angeles: Download our mobile app for breaking news alerts or to watch FOX 11 News | Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. Be a citizen journalist for FOX 11 and get paid - download the Fresco News App today.