The White House is defending President Donald Trump’s executive order limiting U.S. immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries, despite widespread protests and a U.S. federal court ruling halting the move.
The executive order issued Friday, has led to widespread confusion as refugees, green-card holders, students and workers were detained at American airports or barred from boarding international flights to the United States.
The order barred entry for 90 days to people from Iran, Sudan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Libya and Somalia.
Late Saturday, U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly in New York issued an emergency order temporarily barring the deportation of people who had been detained under the executive order after landing at U.S. airports with valid visas. The order also bars the detention of anyone with an approved refugee application. Donnelly said in her order, “There is imminent danger that, absent the stay of removal, there will be substantial and irreparable injury to refugees, visa-holders, and other individuals from nations” who are subject to the president’s order.
Executive order signed by President Trump limits immigration to the U.S. from seven Muslim-majority countries.
Lee Gelernt, deputy legal director of the Immigrants Rights Project, who argued the case in court said the judge also ordered the government to provide a list of names of those detained under the order.
The Homeland Security Department says it will comply with judicial orders, but stressed it will continue to enforce all of the president’s executive orders.
Trump stresses ‘extreme vetting’
President Trump took to Twitter Sunday to say the Unitede States needs “strong borders and extreme vetting.”
White House press secretary Sean Spicer stood firm on why the administration imposed the order.
“To ensure that the people we are letting into our country are coming here with peaceful purposes and not to do us harm. There are 46 other countries with Muslim populations that are not part of this [executive order],” Spicer told ABC.
Spicer said Sunday about 325,000 people arriving in the United States from foreign nations on Saturday and about 100 had come from the nations included in ban.
But reports from federal authorities indicated at least 170 people had been detained at U.S. airports since Trump signed his order Friday at the White House.
WATCH: Protests at Los Angeles Airport
Two senior Republican senators were critical of executive order on Sunday. “It is clear from the confusion at our airports across the nation that President Trump’s executive order was not properly vetted. We are particularly concerned by reports that this order went into effect with little to no consultation with the Departments of State, Defense, Justice, and Homeland Security, Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham said. “Such a hasty process risks harmful results.
People affected by order
Twenty-eight-year-old Iranian national Neda Daemi, a 16 year legal U.S. resident was released after being detained for 10 hours Saturday. Daemi spoke with two lawyers and added she was not asked to sign any papers. She explained she had flown to Los Angeles from Tehran, Iran, where she was visiting family members.
Somali refugee Binto Siyad Aden and her children were released late Saturday after they were detained in Virginia. They had arrived on a family reunion visa from Kenya.
Aden’s husband, Farhan Sulub Anshur, a U.S. citizen from Minnesota, said he believes his wife and two children were released after a court intervened. “You can’t image our joy and feelings now, they have been released and we are here together at a hotel near the airport, “ Anshur said.
Anshur told reporters his wife was subjected to a harsh treatment from law enforcement while in detention at the airport. “They harassed her and threatened her with hand-cuffs and arrest; they forced her to sign a form stating that her and her children will be deported, but she refused to sign for the kids and told them their father is an American citizen” he said.
A Seattle judge issued an emergency stay of removal from the U.S. for two people, and another judge in Virginia banned the deportation of green card holders for seven days and ordered immigration officials to allow detainees access to lawyers.
Other Congressional reaction
Trump’s allies on Capitol Hill are treading carefully amid the controversy following his order.
Republican Senator Mitch McConnell said the president has a lot of latitude to try to secure the country.
“We need to be careful as we do this. I think we need to be careful we do not have religious tests in this country,” McConnell said.
Republican Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona said Trump is right to be concerned about national security, “but it’s unacceptable when even legal permanent residents are being detained or turned away …”
Democrats, however, believe Trump is doing more harm and playing into the hands of the enemy.
“What Trump is doing is harming our national security. It will incite attacks against us. ISIS is already using this ban as propaganda,” U.S. Representative Seth Moulton said.
Mohamad Olad contributed to this report.
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