House Speaker Paul Ryan on Sunday defended President Trump’s controversial executive order on immigration while recognizing that its rollout could have gone more smoothly.
The Wisconsin Republican, who has been in near constant contact with the new administration since Trump’s swearing-in last month, pushed back on continuing claims that the executive order is a ban on Muslims seeking to enter the United States.
“If this were a Muslim ban, I would be opposing it,” Ryan told NBC News’ Chuck Todd.
Trump’s order to suspend immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries and halt the admittance of refugees for 120 days sparked nationwide protest last weekend, which continued through the week until a federal judge granted a temporary restraining order late Friday evening that has temporarily prevented the administration from implementing the ban.
Ryan didn’t dispute the president’s argument for the ban, citing recent episodes of terror attacks in Europe as reasons the administration should take action to prevent similar strikes from occurring on U.S. soil. But he acknowledged that the president and his close circle of advisers should have consulted with agency heads and lawmakers before issuing the order last weekend.
“Nobody wanted green card holders to get mixed up in this, or people with special immigration visas, people in transit. So I do think there was a problem with the rollout,” Ryan said. “But the content of this is exactly what we’ve been talking about.”
He continued: “Let me just say one more thing: The rhetoric surrounding this is overblown. And that rhetoric claiming that this could be some kind of a Muslim ban hurts us and helps them [radical Islamic terror groups] with recruiting.”
Ryan’s Sunday morning interview aired after the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals denied the Justice Department’s request to reverse the Seattle judge’s restraining order against Trump’s immigration ban. With the order still in place, individuals from Iran, Libya, Yemen, Iraq, Sudan, Somalia and Syria remain able to travel to the U.S. without being subject to removal upon arrival.
