President Trump doubled down Sunday on his temporary refugee ban as senior counselor Kellyanne Conway called the relatively small number of those detained at airports “a small price to pay.”
“Our country needs strong borders and extreme vetting, NOW. Look what is happening all over Europe and, indeed, the world — a horrible mess!” said Mr. Trump.
Ms. Conway said about 300 people were detained or prevented from accessing aircraft Saturday on the first day of the executive order of the roughly 325,000 travelers from overseas who entered U.S. airports.
“That’s 1 percent. And I think in terms of the upside being greater protection of our borders, of our people, it’s a small price to pay,” Ms. Conway said on “Fox News Sunday.” “I am told by the officials that anyone who’s been detained, if there’s no further threat, if they’re not dangerous to this country, they can expect to be released in due course, as most of them have already.”
She said she herself had been stopped many times for security checks after the terrorist attack Sept. 11, 2001. “If they’re vetted, it’s a routine screening process they will go through,” she said.
Ms. Conway also pushed back against critics who have accused the Trump administration of splitting up families.
“This whole idea that they’re being separated and ripped from their families — it’s temporary,” she said. “And it’s just circumstantial in terms of whether you were one of those 300 and some who was already on an aircraft or trying to get on an aircraft as opposed to the over 3,000 children who will be forever more separated from their parents who perished on 9/11.”
U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly in New York on Saturday night granted an emergency stay blocking the removal of those detained under the executive order.
The order bars entry for 90 days from natives of seven mostly Muslim countries — Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen — and suspends all refugees from entering the country for 120 days and Syrian refugees indefinitely.
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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