Rep. Charlie Crist spoke out against President Donald Trump’s controversial immigration order during a conference on world affairs in St. Petersburg.

Like most Democrats in Congress, Crist opposes Trump's executive order banning travelers from seven countries from entering the U.S. He said singling out countries based on religion is not the way.

"It's important to keep our country safe," he said. "But there are ways to do it that are non-discriminatory."

Crist also briefly commented about Trump's former National Security Advisor, Michael Flynn, talking about U.S. sanctions with Russian officials.

"If there is an investigation, it's important that it's done in a fair, open and honest fashion," he said. "One that is not impeded by any inappropriate influence and one in which we can count on the integrity of the process throughout."

The conference attracted dozens of speakers over three days last week and featured discussions ranging from trade agreements to music around the globe.

Crist spoke before a panel discussion entitled "What's it really like being an immigrant?"

In his opening remarks to the panel, Crist held up a black and white photo of a young man -- his grandfather who came to the U.S. from Cyprus and fought for the U.S. in World War I.

"Today, we call people like my grandfather DREAMers," he said referring to the DREAM Act and the unauthorized immigrants brought to this country as children who it was designed to protect. "And I support them and I believe they should be given their citizenship."

Crist said accepting immigrants is "our tradition as Americans."

Copyright 2020 WUSF Public Media - WUSF 89.7. To see more, visit WUSF Public Media - WUSF 89.7.