White House aide claims immigration ban has been 'efficient, orderly, enormously successful'

(Image credit: Screenshot/CBS News)

published 30 January 2017

Senior White House adviser Stephen Miller took the weekend protests over President Trump's targeted immigration ban as evidence the executive order's implementation was actually going quite well. In an interview Monday on CBS's This Morning, Miller, who has been panned for his hand in bringing the order to fruition, said that "if nobody's disagreeing with what you're doing, then you're probably not doing anything that really matters." "I think anytime you do anything hugely successful that challenges a failed orthodoxy, you're going to see protest," Miller said.

Trump's new executive order bans people from seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the U.S. Miller said he would describe the ban's rollout as "efficient, orderly, [and] enormously successful" — but he did not mention border officers' reported confusion about how to carry out the order, the lack of communication between government agencies before the order was signed, the criticism from international leaders, or the hundreds of people arriving at U.S. airports only to be detained or sent back.

In the next 30 days, Miller said the Trump administration will work to figure out a better screening system to "try and ensure that people entering our country, particularly on a permanent basis, truly love and support the United States of America."