US immigration ban: White House pushes back after judges halt ban order

2 judges temporarily blocked govt late Saturday from enforcing portions of order to halt immigration

The White House defended President Donald Trump’s executive order halting entry to the US from seven predominantly Muslim Middle East countries after two judges blocked parts of the plan, even as Republican lawmakers suggested the president’s action was too broad.

Trump led the charge, telling 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!”

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 US, he said, because “the safety of the American citizens, the safety of our country has got to be paramount.”

Two judges temporarily blocked the administration late Saturday from enforcing portions of his order to halt immigration and entry from countries that include Iraq, Yemen and Syria.

The move 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 US Spontaneous protests erupted at a number of airports around the nation.

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 what to criticise 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 US 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.”

Senator Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican, said in a statement Saturday that “as a lifelong member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I am acutely aware that many of my own ancestors — as well as the ancestors of many other Latter-day Saints — were themselves refugees, religious minorities violently driven from their homes.”

The Department of Homeland Security said 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 in a statement Sunday 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 US was “not a Muslim ban” and was “working out very nicely” at airports around the country. “I think it’s going to be very successful,” he said.

Bloomberg