Homeland Security officials revealed Tuesday that 1,134 people covered by President Trump’s anti-terror travel ban have been vetted and let into the country since the order went into effect — while two were denied entry and shipped back home.
The feds approved waivers for 1,059 “legal permanent residents,” or green-card holders, during the first three days of tightened restrictions, according to the US Customs and Border Protection Web site.
In addition, another 75 people holding immigrant and non-immigrant visas were allowed in, and “872 refugees will be arriving this week,” acting CBP Commissioner Kevin McAleenan said.
The travelers who were denied admission are both green-card holders, one of whom had a criminal record and the other who “chose to return to Canada and withdrew his request for entry,” according to the site.
During an afternoon news conference, Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly denied reports that he had been kept out of the loop before Trump on Friday barred citizens Taraftarium of seven majority Muslim countries for at least 90 days, with Syrians banned indefinitely.
Kelly said he saw two draft copies of Trump’s executive order last week, adding that “probably Thursday we found out it would be signed the next day.”
Earlier Tuesday, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) made his first comments on the travel ban, calling it “something that we support” but expressing regret over the weekend chaos it caused at airports across the nation.
“The president has a responsibility to the security of this country,” he said.
“It’s regrettable that there was confusion on the rollout of this. No one wanted to see people with green cards or special immigrant visas, like [military] translators, get caught up in all of this.”
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