The Homeland Security Secretary Said President Trump’s Visa Ban ‘Wasn’t a Surprise’

Thus, any country that fails to comply with the U.S.by providing information as requested within a 60 day window would be subject to an indefinite or permanent ban on its nationals entering the United States. “Many of us were on the job working for our country on 9/11 and need no reminder just how vital it is to destroy terrorist networks and bring partners to our side in that global effort”. Trump said in an interview on Friday that the caveat was aimed at helping Syrian Christians.

During a Tuesday briefing concerning the immigration orders, DHS Secretary John Kelly explained that the order is not a travel ban, but rather a pause to allow the government time to implement a new vetting system.

Kelly said the seven countries in question – Syria, Iraq, Iran, Yemen, Libya, Somalia and Sudan – don’t have adequate safeguards to prevent terrorists from boarding planes to the U.S.

He added: “We have to be convinced that people that come here, there’s a reasonable expectation that we don’t know who they are and why they’re coming here for and what their backgrounds are”.

Protesters chant as they block a road during a demonstration against the immigration ban imposed by President Donald Trump at Los Angeles International Airport on January 29, 2017 in Los Angeles.

U.S. Rep. Keith Rothfus, R-12, Sewickley, rejected the “Muslim ban” label that critics placed on the executive order, pointing out that it did not apply to several other Muslim countries in a statement he tweeted out on Monday.

“Upon the resumption of (refugee) admissions”, the order says, “the Secretary of State, in consultation with the Secretary of Homeland Security, is further directed to make changes, to the extent permitted by law, to prioritize refugee claims made by individuals on the basis of religious-based persecution, provided that the religion of the individual is a minority religion in the individual’s country of nationality”. The State Department and the Department of Defense were also excluded from the process, NBC reported.

Trump said the executive order he signed on Friday was created to protect the United States “from foreign terrorist entry”. Spicer said only 109 people were detained out of 325,000 who traveled during one 24-hour period over the weekend. “As soon as the court order was received [on January 28], they advised us to put a complete hold on anyone being removed in connection with the executive order”. “I didn’t get involved in correcting grammar or reformatting the thing”.

The 872 refugees will be allowed to enter as denying them entry would cause undue harm, McAleenan said.

They also expressed concern that some people may have been deported under Trump’s order, which would violate an emergency ruling by U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly in New York Saturday night that ordered the government to admit legal immigrants already in transit to the United States when Trump’s executive order took effect.

“We’re looking at various options, right now”, Secretary Kelly, a retired Marine Corps General, said at a press conference. Judges have temporarily blocked some aspects of the executive order – for example, those detained on arrival in the U.S. under the order may not be deported; but it will be some time before the courts resolve all the questions the new prohibitions raise.