Democrats hold protest on President Trump's executive order on immigration in DC

WASHINGTON, DC (WABC) -- New York Senator Charles Schumer and other democrats protested against President Trump's executive order on immigration in Washington, DC on Monday evening.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi kicked off the rally in front of the Supreme Court building and thousands of people.

Senator Schumer spoke to the crowd and said, "The order will make us unsafe, the order will make us inhumane, and the order will make us less of America."

New Jersey Senator Cory Booker joined in and saying that now is the time to fight back against the executive order.

"We must choose to fight, we must choose to resist, we must choose to stand up for what we believe in, now more than ever," Sen. Booker said.

"Not only is this ban a contradiction to what we as Americans stand for, it will make us less safe not more safe. Because what Trump has done is give ammunition to the jihadists all over the world," Sen. Bernie Sanders said.

The rally and protest concluded with a candlelight vigil about an hour after it began.

The crowd thinned, but some of the protesters remained and chanted, "Love not hate, that's what makes America great!"

Meantime, the acting attorney general wrote she'd refuse to defend President Trump's so-called extreme vetting order in court, citing her "obligation to seek justice and stand for what's right." At present, she wrote, "I'm not convinced the executive order is lawful."

She lasted a few hours before the president fired her. In a statement, his press office derided her as an "Obama appointee very week on illegal immigration," saying she'd "betrayed the Department of Justice."

The hits are not just from opposition party. In fact, there's a growing chorus of republicans like Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham, who today called the executive order a self-inflicted wound in the fight against terrorism.

Dozens of career diplomats drafted a rare letter of dissent against the immigrant ban, saying instead of a drop in terror attacks, it'll mean a drop in good will towards Americans.

The president's spokesman said, "I think that they should either get with the program or they can go."

But the protesters are going nowhere.

"I'm a daughter of immigrants and that's why this is so important. This is picking out seven countries and saying no one from those countries can come here. That is not American in any way," a protester said.

Liliana is a federal employee from Fairview, New Jersey. She's afraid to use her last name for fear of reprisals, and Sean Massaro drove to DC from New Milford.

"There was actually one in Jersey City but I decided I'd do the drive down here," Massaro said. "We're across from the capitol, we're at the people's house, the Supreme Court is an institution where laws get struck down, executive orders get struck down, and I'm just here to stand with everyone else."

Earlier, Sen. Schumer spoke with ABC News about his plans to protest the president's actions.

"The wrongfulness, the un-American-ness of this resolution remains. We have never had a religious test number one, number two, America, we have to be a strong military force but we also have to be a strong moral force," Sen. Schumer said.

Sen. Schumer said that he would do everything he could to block the Supreme Court pick by President Trump on Tuesday.