In an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, President Trump defended his administration’s plan to temporarily halt visas and refugee applications from terror hot spots like Syria, Iraq, Iran Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen, saying that it’s in the interest of American security.
“Beyond just those countries, we’re gonna have extreme vetting, we’re going to have extreme vetting for people coming in to our country and if we think there’s a problem—it’s not going to be so easy for people to come in anymore, you look at what’s gone on…then you go to other countries, and you look at Nice, and you look at different places all over Europe, you look at what’s happening with Germany, it’s a mess, the crime is incredible. And we’re just not going to let that happen here.”
Hannity then asked what would happen if it’s nearly impossible to determine whether someone is safe to come in.
“If you can’t positively ascertain they’re safe and find out what’s in their heart, does that mean no-go?” he asked the president.
“We don’t want to have gambles, our country has a lot of problems, well beyond this,” he said.
"Right now, the FBI has over 1,000 [terrorism] investigations going on … and these are people that we let in," he continued. "We don’t need this. Some people have come in with evil intentions. Most haven’t, I guess, but we can’t take chances."
Trump is expected to sign an executive order that would halt the U.S.’s broader refugee program for 120 days and prohibit citizens from the aforementioned countries from obtaining U.S. visas for at least 30 days.