President Trump said Monday there is “no reason to apologize” for his comments during the 2016 campaign regarding immigration and Muslims.
During a joint press conference with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, Trump was asked about comments made by the lawyer representing the challengers in the case over Trump’s travel ban during last week’s arguments before the Supreme Court.
“There’s no reason to apologize. Our immigration laws in this country are a total disaster. They’re laughed at all over the world,” Trump told reporters. “They’re laughed at for their stupidity, and we have to have strong immigration laws.
“I think if I apologize, it wouldn’t make 10 cents worth of difference to them. There’s nothing to apologize for. We have to have strong immigration laws to protect our country.”
The reporter’s question focused on an exchange between Neal Katyal, who argued the case on behalf of the challengers last week, and Chief Justice John Roberts.
The challengers claim Trump’s statements during the 2016 campaign demonstrate the travel ban was motivated by animus toward Islam.
Katyal told Roberts the challengers’ claim that the president was discriminating on the basis of religion would no longer be applicable to the case if Trump issued a proclamation disavowing his campaign statements.
But Trump said he doesn’t believe the travel ban case would go away if he were to apologize for what he said.
A decision from the court in the case challenging the president’s executive order restricting travel to the U.S. from eight countries, six of which have majority Muslim populations, is expected by the end of June.
