John McCain criticizes President Trump on travel ban, says it will aid ISIS
Jan 29, 2017, 11:11 AM | Updated: 12:43 pm
WASHINGTON — Arizona senator John McCain criticized President Donald Trump’s ban on immigrants saying it will only give the terror group ISIS more propaganda.
McCain’s comments came during an appearance on CBS’s Face the Nation on Sunday in which the senator was critical of the president’s decision to ban immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries through an executive order. He called it a “confused process.”
“The good news is that it’s only got to do with a pause,” McCain told the morning news program. “The bad news is that obviously this process and these conclusions were not vetted.”
McCain added that it was important for the president to understand the ramifications of what the executive order would do and said he should’ve consulted with federal agencies and foreign leaders first. He added that because of this, there’s been a great deal of confusion as to if it applies to green-card holders and what happens to Iraqis who have been aiding the military and other issues.
“There’s so much confusion out there,” he said. “And published reports are that neither the Department of Homeland Security or the Justice Department or others were consulted about this before this decision was made.”
Trump signed the executive orders late Friday night, which resulted in confusion on Saturday that included the detaining of individuals on flights bound for the U.S. Late on Saturday, the Department of Homeland Security announced that all foreign-born U.S. residents who could have been barred from re-entering the country, have been allowed back.
Trump’s order Friday barred citizens of seven Muslim-majority nations from entering the United States for 90 days. That meant that even those with permanent residency “green cards” or other visas risked not being let back into the United States.
Also on Saturday, a federal judge in New York issued an emergency order temporarily barring the U.S. from deporting people from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia, and Yemon.
U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly issued the order after lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union filed a court petition on behalf of people from seven predominantly Muslim nations who were detained at airports across the country as the ban took effect.
The order also covered anyone with an approved refugee application. However, it’s unclear how quickly the order might affect people in detention.
“The effect will probably in some areas give ISIS some more propaganda,” McCain said, adding that he is particularly concerned about the effect the ban will have on Iraqis — whose troops are fighting side-by-side with American forces in the battle to retake Mosul.”
The Associated Press contributed to this story
