WASHINGTON — Hundreds of American diplomats defied a White House warning on Tuesday, sending a memo to the State Department’s leadership that criticizes President Donald Trump’s temporary travel ban on citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries. It is believed to be one of the most popularly supported statements of dissent in the department’s history.

A State Department official said the cable was received just a day after White House spokesman Sean Spicer suggested those disagreeing with Trump’s new policy should resign. The official did not have an exact number of signatories, but said more than 800 indicated they would sign after drafts of the cable circulated over the weekend. The official wasn’t authorized to discuss the matter publicly and demanded anonymity.

The document argues that the executive order Trump signed last week runs counter to American values and will fuel anti-American sentiment around the world.

“A policy which closes our doors to over 200 million legitimate travelers in the hopes of preventing a small number of travelers who intend to harm Americans from using the visa system to enter the United States will not achieve its aim of making our country safer,” the diplomats wrote in the so-called “dissent cable.”

“This ban stands in opposition to the core American and constitutional values that we, as federal employees, took an oath to uphold,” a draft of the cable said. The final version wasn’t immediately available.

Dissent channel cables are a mechanism for U.S. diplomats to register disagreement internally about U.S. policies. It was established during the Vietnam War and was most recently used by diplomats to criticize the Obama administration’s approach to Syria. In that case, former Secretary of State John Kerry met with signers of the cable to discuss their concerns.

Trump’s secretary of state nominee Rex Tillerson is still awaiting Senate confirmation and it was unclear how we would respond to the memo.

In response to reports of the cable Monday, Spicer said of the diplomats: “They should either get with the program or they can go.”

He dismissed the criticism from what he called “career bureaucrats.” While he later said Trump appreciates the work of public servants, Spicer said they should respect the desires of the American people and the importance Trump places on protecting the country.

“If somebody has a problem with that agenda, that does call into question whether they should continue in that post or not,” Spicer said. “This is about the safety of America.”

Signers of dissent cables are supposed to be protected from retribution from superiors.

The department, along with other agencies entrusted with implementing Trump’s order, has been confused about the details, offering several contradictory instructions to embassies and consulates on how it plans to do so.

As word of the executive order began to circulate last week, diplomats at some embassies began to prioritize visa applications from citizens of countries they suspected might be affected, according to officials.

On Friday, before the order was signed, workers at one embassy dumped bins of hundreds of approved passports on the floor to pull those from the affected countries and affix visas in them, officials said. That effort stopped when the order was signed, they said.

Story: Matthew Lee

PARIS — The European parliament is asking France’s far-right leader Marine Le Pen to start repaying hundreds of thousands of euros it says were wrongly paid to legislative aides.

An EU parliament letter to le Pen published by Challenges magazine gives Tuesday as the deadline to begin repayment of about 300,000 euros (USD $322,000).

In a second letter, the European parliament asks for the repayment of an additional 40,000 euros (USD $37,100) by Feb. 28.

The request follows the European anti-fraud office’s findings that some aides were paid from the European budget while actually working as Le Pen’s cabinet chief and bodyguard, breaking the parliament’s rules.

Le Pen, a leading presidential candidate in France, has denied any wrongdoing.

Her campaign director David Rachline said Tuesday on BFM television his party suffered “persecution” from EU authorities, suggesting she has no intention of paying.

“Is there any talk of a criminal conviction? None at all. Is there any talk of self-enrichment? None at all,” he said.

The European parliament can recover money by holding back part of her salary and allowances.

Europe’s anti-fraud office found that a total of 19 National Front members used aides on the European Parliament’s payroll for political activity. That spurred French prosecutors to open a separate investigation at the beginning of the month.

It’s one of multiple investigations around the National Front or its finances that are casting a shadow over Le Pen’s campaign for France’s April-May presidential election.

The repayment request comes as French justice opened a preliminary embezzlement and misappropriation of public funds probe regarding another presidential hopeful, conservative nominee Francois Fillon.

An investigation was opened last week over whether Fillon’s wife, Penelope, actually worked while being paid as his parliamentary aide at France’s lower house of parliament.

BUCHAREST, Romania — Romania’s government adopted an emergency ordinance late Tuesday to decriminalize official misconduct, dealing a blow to a yearslong drive to curb corruption in the eastern European country.

Justice Minister Florin Iordache said the measure will decriminalize cases of official misconduct in which the financial damage is valued at less than 200,000 lei ($47,800). Tens of thousands of Romanians protested against the ordinance in recent weeks, saying it would weaken anti-graft efforts.

More protests erupted in cities across Romania after the announcement. Outside the main government offices in the capital, demonstrators called the ruling Social Democratic Party “the red plague.” Some chanted “You did it at night, like thieves,” referring to the late hour the ordinance was passed.

“This measure will render the anti-corruption fight irrelevant,” anti-corruption chief prosecutor Laura Codruta Kovesi told The Associated Press

She said the National Anticorruption Directorate had prosecuted 1,170 cases of abuse in office during the past three years with damages worth 1 billion euros ($1.07 billion). Kovesi has led a tough anti-corruption fight against senior politicians and other officials, earning praise from the U.S., Canada and the European Union.

President Klaus Iohannis, who has limited powers and doesn’t oversee the government, called the measure’s adoption “a day of mourning for the rule of law … which has received a grave blow from the enemies of justice.”

“From today onward, my mission is to re-establish the rule of law. I will do everything I can to make Romania a country free of corruption, until the last day of my mandate,” the president said.

Iordache said a proposal to pardon thousands of prisoners that the government says will ease overcrowding in prisons would be sent for approval to Parliament, where the government has a majority.

The anti-corruption agency said the decriminalization measure would “encourage the abusive behavior of public workers, dishonesty, (and) immorality.” About one-third of the agency’s prosecutions are related to abuse of office.

The agency said such a development would benefit both future offenders and those currently being investigated.

Iordache denied the proposal was designed to benefit politicians, a number of whom have been caught up in the country’s fight against high-level corruption.

Story: Nicholae Dumitrache, Vadim Ghirda