The White House defended President Donald Trump’s executive order halting entry to the U.S. from seven predominantly Muslim Middle East countries after judges blocked parts of the plan.
Republican lawmakers suggested the president’s action was too broad and potentially damaging to the U.S. Trump’s chief of staff said the immigration order doesn’t include holders of green cards, although those people could be subject to additional steps when they travel overseas.
A federal judge in Boston became the latest to curb Trump’s immigration order, directing customs officials at the city’s Logan International Airport on Sunday to let passengers from the seven countries with valid visas disembark and go on their way.
Trump told his almost 23 million Twitter followers on Sunday morning: “Our country needs strong borders and extreme vetting, NOW. Look what is happening all over Europe and, indeed, the world - a horrible mess!”
Judges temporarily blocked the administration from enforcing portions of his order to halt immigration and entry of citizens of Syria, Iraq, Iran, Sudan, Somalia, Yemen and Libya. Under the order, the admission of refugees would be suspended for 120 days.
The president was putting Americans first, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said on ABC’s “This Week” program. The 109 people held by immigration authorities on Saturday were simply “slowed down” in entering the U.S., he said, because “the safety of the American citizens, the safety of our country has got to be paramount.”
Protests
The judges’ moves came at the end of a day when a number of students, refugees and dual citizens were stuck overseas or detained, and some businesses, including Google, warned employees from those countries not to risk leaving the U.S. Spontaneous protests erupted at a number of airports around the nation, and world leaders including London’s mayor and Canada’s prime minister joined U.S. lawmakers in crying foul.
Although some U.S. visa and green-card holders were blocked from boarding flights to the U.S. on Saturday after the order was issued, “the executive order doesn’t affect green-card holders moving forward,” Reince Priebus, the White House chief of staff, said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” in what seemed to be an adjustment to the administration’s policy.
He added that green-card holders -- legal permanent residents -- may be subject to additional screening if they travel to one of the seven countries targeted by the order. Even U.S. citizens may be affected: “I would suspect that if you’re American citizen traveling back and forth to Libya you’re likely to be subjected to further questioning when you come into an airport.,” Priebus said.
‘Religious Tests’
“Valid visas are great,” Priebus said in a separate interview on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “But it doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be subjected to further questioning.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, in his first public statement on the order, expressed opposition to “religious tests” for immigration restrictions.
“It’s hopefully going to be decided in the courts as to whether or not this has gone too far,” McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, said on the ABC program. “I don’t want to criticize them for improving vetting. I think we need to be careful. We don’t have religious tests in this country.”
Senator Rob Portman, an Ohio Republican, said tighter screening of those entering the U.S. is needed but urged that “we just slow down” and make sure it’s properly targeted.
“It is not a ban” on Muslims, Portman said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “However, I think it was not properly vetted. So, you have an ‘extreme vetting’ proposal that didn’t get the vetting it should have had, and as the result, in the implementation, we’ve seen some problems.”
‘Self-Inflicted Wound’
In a joint statement, Republican Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham said they were “concerned by reports that this order went into effect with little to no consultation with the Departments of State, Defense, Justice, and Homeland Security.”
“Ultimately, we fear this executive order will become a self-inflicted wound in the fight against terrorism,” the senators said.
Friday’s executive order was reviewed by the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel before being made final, according to a White House aide. Priebus, on NBC, said Trump’s team, which took over the White House on Jan. 20, had worked with the agencies “for a long time” on the order. “This was not an executive order that was simply signed from the White House and suddenly transferred to the Department of Homeland Security.”
DHS said in a statement Sunday that it will continue to enforce all of Trump’s orders “in a manner that ensures the safety and security of the American people.” At the same time, the agency said that it will comply with judicial orders.
At an Oval Office ceremony on Saturday to sign three other executive actions, Trump said the move to suspend refugee resettlements into the U.S. was “not a Muslim ban” and that the order was “working out very nicely” at airports around the country. “I think it’s going to be very successful,” he said.
Obama’s List
Kellyanne Conway, counselor to the president, said on “Fox News Sunday” that the seven countries covered by Trump’s travel order had been originally flagged by former President Barack Obama’s administration.
The individuals held on Saturday can expect to be released “in due course” if they aren’t dangerous, Conway said, adding that situations will be handed on a case-by-case basis. The White House aide said everyone stopped at airports on Saturday who hasn’t already been cleared for entry through the waiver process is expected to be processed today.
“This is what we do to keep America safe,” Conway said.
Trump returned to Twitter to say that “Christians in the Middle-East have been executed in large numbers. We cannot allow this horror to continue!”
In an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network, Trump said Christians should be a priority in a revamped refugee program. “It was almost impossible” for Syrian Christians to enter the U.S., Trump said in an excerpt released on Friday. The full interview will run on Sunday night.
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