Homeland Security Chief Says He Knew Immigration Order Was Coming; Update On Travelers

Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said he was aware Trump's order on immigration was coming despite reports to the contrary that suggested he hadn't been fully briefed when the order was signed.

Speaking at a press conference, Kelly and other officials provided updates on the order, saying waivers would be granted to several travelers who are covered by the temporary restriction on travel to the United States. The U.S. will allow 872 refugees to enter the country this week, processing them for waivers, despite President Donald Trump's executive order on immigration, Kevin McAleenan, acting commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, said at a press conference Tuesday.

In addition, McAleenan provided numbers on how many people were affected by the order that bans immigrant and non-immigrant travel from Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Sudan and Yemen for 90 days, bars refugees from entering the country for 120 days and indefinitely suspends the Syrian refugee program. In the first 72 hours since the ban was implemented, McAleenan said 721 foreign nationals were affected by the order and denied boarding, while 1,060 lawful permanent residents and 75 travelers on both immigrant and non-immigrant visas were processed for waivers and allowed to enter. The 872 refugees will be allowed to enter because denying them entry would cause undue hardship, McAleenan said.

Going forward, McAleenan said immigrants and non-immigrants will be denied boarding on their flights to the U.S. and referred to the State Department for further processing. Lawful permanent residents and anyone with a special immigrant visa will be allowed to board their flights and will be processed for waivers to enter, McAleenan said.

McAleenan also said that travelers with dual nationality will be processed based on the passport they present. For example, if a British citizen of dual nationality presents a British passport, they will be processed based on the British passport.

Kelly stressed that the executive order was in no way a travel ban or a "Muslim ban" but a temporary pause that would allow officials to better review the existing visa and refugee vetting systems. Kelly said officials would analyze the strengths and the weaknesses of the current immigration system over the next 30 days and then provide foreign partners with 60 days to cooperate with national security requirements.

"This analysis is long overdue and currently supported by the department's career intelligence officials," he said.

Kelly said the U.S. immigration system was "the most generous in the world."

Expanding on the "extreme vetting" that Trump has called for, Kelly said, "there are many countries, seven that we are dealing with right now, that in my view don't have the kind of law enforcement records keeping that can convince us that one of their citizens is indeed who that citizen says they are and what their background might be."

Kelly said there are various other things the government is considering, for example if someone asks for consideration to get a visa, "it might be certainly an accounting of what websites they visit, it might be telephone contact information." Another possibility was looking at the social media of visa applicants.

"Right now there are a number of countries on the planet that don't have that kind of records keeping, police work, that kind of thing, the seven in question right now for the most part fall under that category," he said, adding that the government would work with countries on the so-called extreme vetting.

He also pushed back on reports that he was kept out of the loop on the order, repeatedly saying he was aware that the order was coming and the department had people involved in the "general drafting" of the order. A report in the New York Times says Kelly was on a conference call getting his first full briefing on the policy when the order was signed.

"We knew it was coming, it wasn't a surprise it was coming, and then we implemented it," he said.

Since Trump's order was signed, there have been widespread protests opposing the policy as even permanent residents and those with special immigrant visas were detained at airports. Officials said they fully complied with any court orders that were issued over the weekend and processed individuals affected by the court orders for waivers.

Kelly said officials would continue to implement Trump's order "professionally and humanely."

Addressing the reported "chaos" at airports, Kelly said the only "chaos" he heard of was coming from "other parts of the airport."

Watch the full DHS press conference below:

Image Credit: US Southern Command