A child walks in a United Nations refugee camp in Turkey where thousands of Syrian refugees reside.
A child walks in a United Nations refugee camp in Turkey where thousands of Syrian refugees reside. UNHCR

WASHINGTON — After a turbulent weekend at American airports, many Texas members of Congress sought on Monday to clarify their positions on President Donald Trump’s controversial executive order banning travel from certain countries in the Middle East.  

In a nearly uniform fashion, Texas Republicans lined up behind Trump, while Democrats viscerally opposed the action.  

Only U.S. Rep. Will Hurd, a Helotes Republican, fully crossed party lines and firmly opposed the ban. 

Republicans who backed Trump fell into two camps: those offering full-throated support and those who expressed concern about the disorganized implementation that resulted in a public relations nightmare of detained travelers in Texas and across the country.

Most Texas Republicans were initially reluctant to weigh in, with only a handful making public statements over the weekend. But by Monday, a flood of GOP Texas members released statements praising the action.  

As of late Monday, only a few in the 38-member Texas congressional delegation remained on the sidelines. 

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Abby Livingston joined The Texas Tribune in 2014 as the publication's first Washington bureau chief, and departed August 2022. In this role, she covered members in the Texas congressional delegation and...

Aditi Bhandari was a 2017 data visuals fellow at The Texas Tribune. At Northwestern University, she studied journalism and design. She creates data-driven graphics and interactive stories, and previously...

Bobby Blanchard joined The Texas Tribune’s audience team in 2016 and led the team from 2021 to 2023, strategizing to expand the organization’s reach and engagement across all platforms. A graduate...