House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) on Monday morning defended President Donald Trump’s executive order suspending the refugee program and temporarily denying entry to the U.S. to people from seven predominantly Muslim countries.
Ryan acknowledged that the “rollout was confusing,” and said nobody wanted to hold up green card holders or translators who had helped the U.S. military abroad. But he stood behind the substance of the order and argued that members of the Islamic State could try to enter the U.S. as refugees.
“We need to pause, and we need to make sure that the vetting standards are up to snuff,” he said. “There is nothing wrong with taking a pause.”
Ryan compared the executive order to the SAFE Act, a bill pushed by Republicans following the terrorist attack in Paris that would have required the heads of security agencies to approve the background check of each refugee admitted to the U.S. from Syria and Iraq.