Jan. 29 (UPI) — White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus said Sunday that President Donald Trump‘s executive order barring entry from select countries “doesn’t include green-card holders going forward.”

His clarification came as legislators, including Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and Republican Sen. John McCain, called on the Trump administration to rescind the order.

Priebus, speaking on NBC’s Meet the Press, responded to a question by Chuck Todd on whether the White House overruled a recommendation from the Department of Homeland Security stating people with green cards should be allowed to enter the United States.

“We didn’t overrule the Department of Homeland Security. As far as green-card holders moving forward, it doesn’t affect them,” Priebus first said.

But when pressed whether it impacts green-card holders at all, Priebus said: “Well, of course it does. If you’re traveling back and forth, you’re going to be subjected to further screening.”

He said a Customs and Border Patrol agent has “discretionary authority” whether to question citizens coming from the countries in question: Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.

“I would suspect that if you’re an American citizen traveling back and forth to Libya you’re likely to be subjected to further questioning when you come into an airport,” he said.

Priebus also said other countries may be included in the ban.

“Perhaps other countries needed to be added to an executive order going forward — but in order to do this in a way that was expeditious, in a way that would pass muster quickly, we used the seven countries” already identified by Congress, he said.

Priebus said the order was rolled out quickly because “this is all done for the protection of Americans, and waiting another three days, waiting another three weeks is something that we don’t want to get wrong.”

“President Trump is not willing to get this wrong, which is why he wants to move forward quickly and protect Americans,” Priebus added.

A federal judge issued an emergency stay for refugees, preventing those detained at American airports from being sent back to one of the seven banned countries.

Schumer posted on Twitter that he has spoken with Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly, adding Kelly: “Assures me the court order will be complied with. All those still in airports expected to be admitted.”

But he urged Trump to rescind his order.

“Exec Orders make US less safe & secure; turn much of the world against us. Joining recent refugees today to call on Pres Trump to rescind,” Schumer tweeted Sunday morning

“Still much more work to do; President Trump must overturn this awful executive order,” he said.

Republican Sen. John McCain criticized the ban during an interview on Face the Nation on CBS.

He said there is “so much confusion out there” that will only give the terror group ISIS “some more propaganda.” He said he’s especially 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 good news is that it’s only got to do with a pause,” he said about the 90-day ban. “The bad news is that obviously this process and these conclusions were not vetted” with the Department of Homeland Security or the Justice Department.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said the courts will decide if Trump’s ban “has gone too far.”

“Well, if they’re looking to tighten the vetting process, I mean who would be against that?” McConnell asked on ABC’s This Week.

“But I am opposed to a religious test. The courts are going to determine whether this is too broad.”</s>Washington: There is a possibility in the future of including Pakistan in the list of countries from where immigration has been banned, a top White House official indicated on Sunday, acknowledging for the first time that Pakistan was under consideration to be put in that category.

“The reason we chose those seven countries was, those were the seven countries that both the Congress and the Obama administration identified as being the seven countries that were most identifiable with dangerous terrorism taking place in their country,” White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, told CBS News.

Trump has issued a controversial executive order banning immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries -- Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan, Yemen, Syria and Somalia.

“Now, you can point to other countries that have similar problems, like Pakistan and others. Perhaps we need to take it further. But for now, immediate steps, pulling the Band-Aid off, is to do further vetting for people traveling in and out of those countries,” Priebus said.

This is for the first time that the Trump Administration has publicly acknowledged about considering putting Pakistan into that list.

Currently as per the executive order, visitors from countries like Pakistan and Afghanistan are subject to extreme vetting.

Priebus said the executive orders were signed after a lot of planning.

“We’re not going to advertise to the world that we’re going to put a stop or at least a further vetting on travel in and out of our country from these seven places,” he said.

“Some people have suggested, that, well, maybe we should have given everyone a three-day warning. But that would just mean that a terrorist would just move up their travel plans by three days. Identifying too many people in these countries and giving them a heads-up in these countries would only potentially flag the executive order for bad order,” Priebus said.

“The President has a call with leadership in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates and other countries around world. And I’m sure this topic may come up,” he said.

Priebus asserted that Americans have to be protected first.

“These are countries that harbour and train terrorists. These are countries that we want to know who is coming and going in and out of to prevent calamities from happening in this country,” he said.

“We’re not willing to be wrong on this subject. President Trump is not willing to take chances on this subject. He was elected president in many respects because people knew that he was going to be tough on immigration from countries that harbour terrorists,” Priebus said.

“I can’t imagine too many people out there watching this right now think it’s unreasonable to ask a few more questions from someone traveling in and out of Libya and Yemen before being let loose in the United States. And that’s all this is,” he said.</s>The White House chief of staff says U.S. President Donald Trump acted early on in his term to impose a travel ban on refugees to block “people who want to do bad things to America.”Reince Priebus said there’s nothing to apologize for after Friday’s executive order drew widespread protests. Trump’s order temporarily banned refugees and citizens of seven mostly-Muslim countries from entering the U.S. The order also indefinitely banned refugees from the war-torn nation of Syria.Late Saturday, a court order temporarily barred the U.S. from deporting certain people.Priebus told NBC’s Meet the Press that the Trump’s order “doesn’t affect green card holders moving forward” — the subject of the legal challenges.Article Continued BelowScores were detained Saturday upon arrival at U.S. airports, spurring the judge’s order.Priebus says officials were using “discretionary authority” to ask “a few more questions” at U.S. airports.A top adviser to President Donald Trump says a federal judge’s emergency order “really doesn’t affect” his efforts to temporarily bar refugees and citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the U.S.</s>WASHINGTON — Travelers were stranded around the world, protests escalated in the United States and anxiety rose within President Trump’s party on Sunday as his order closing the nation to refugees and people from certain predominantly Muslim countries provoked a crisis just days into his administration.

The White House pulled back on part of Mr. Trump’s temporary ban on visitors from seven countries by saying that it would not apply to those with green cards granting them permanent residence in the United States. By the end of the day, the Department of Homeland Security formally issued an order declaring such legal residents exempt from the order.

But the recalibration did little to reassure critics at home or abroad who saw the president’s order as a retreat from traditional American values. European leaders denounced the order, and some Republican lawmakers called on Mr. Trump to back down. As of Sunday evening, officials said no one was being held at American airports, although lawyers said they believed that dozens were still being detained.

More than any of the myriad moves Mr. Trump has made in his frenetic opening days in office, the immigration order has quickly come to define his emerging presidency as one driven by a desire for decisive action even at the expense of deliberate process or coalition building. It has thrust the nine-day-old administration into its first constitutional conflict, as multiple courts have intervened to block aspects of the order, and into its broadest diplomatic incident, with overseas allies objecting.</s>President Trump could issue additional executive orders expanding the list of Muslim-majority countries whose people are banned from emigrating to the United States, White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus said Sunday.

Future White House executive orders could include countries such as Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Egypt being added to the list of banned countries, Mr. Priebus said during an interview on NBC’s “Meet The Press.”

“Perhaps other countries needed to be added to an executive order going forward,” Mr. Priebus said regarding expansion of Mr. Trump’s immigration action.

Administration officials stuck to the initial list of seven Mideast and North African nations — Iran, Iraq, Syria, Somalia, Sudan, Libya and Yemen — banned under executive order since they were “already been codified and identified” as presenting a terrorist threat by the Obama White House and Congress, he said.

“This is all done for the protection of Americans,” Mr. Priebus said. “President Trump is not willing to get this wrong.”

Almost none of the terrorist attacks carried out in the United States, from the Sept. 11 attacks to the recent spate of so-called “lone wolf” strikes, have been carried out by citizens from the countries listed in Mr. Trump’s executive order.

Mr. Priebus also suggested that U.S. citizens traveling to any of the seven countries outlined in the executive order could be subjected to additional vetting by Transportation Security Administration officers upon re-entry to the United States.

“I would suspect that if you’re an American citizen traveling back and forth to Libya, you’re likely to be subjected to further questioning when you come into an airport,” he said Sunday. “I would suspect that most Americans would agree that that might be a good thing to do.”

Implementation of the White House’s travel ban sparked a slew of spontaneous protests at several international airports across the United States, as individuals arriving from the countries on the list with valid U.S. visas and green cards, were refused entry.

On Saturday, U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly of the Eastern District of New York issued a court order temporarily suspending elements of Mr. Trump’s travel ban. The order was issued after lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union filed an action with the court, arguing the travel ban was unconstitutional.

Critics of the administration’s immigration plan claim the move is tantamount to the Muslim ban candidate Trump called for during his campaign, infuriating human rights activists, international policy experts and some inside the Republican Party.</s>WASHINGTON – The Trump Administration reversed itself Sunday on a key element of its executive travel ban from Muslim countries, saying green card holders won’t be prevented from legally returning to the United States.

Amid raucous protests at airports due to President Trump’s executive order to temporarily restrict travel from seven Muslim countries, White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus said legal residents won’t be subject to the ban.

But he also said border officials may use their “discretion” to question legal residents and US citizens in the future regarding suspicious travel activity to make sure they are not “up to no good.”

Priebus stood by the presidents executive order saying it was necessary to protect Americans and was rolled out effectively with the awareness of homeland security officials.

“They knew full well what was going on,” Priebus said.

Priebus said “a couple dozen” people remained detained at airports as of Sunday morning.

“The fact of the matter is 325,000 people from foreign countries came into the United States yesterday and 109 people were detained for further questioning, most of those people were moved out,” Priebus said.

“We’ve got a couple dozen more that remain and I would suspect as long as they’re not awful people that they will move through before another half a day today. Perhaps some of these people should be detained further.”

“Apologize for nothing here,” he added.

Civil rights activists said over the weekend that legal permanent residents were targeted and detained at the first day of the executive order.

Trita Parsi, head of the National Iranian American Council, said Sunday on MSNBC’s “Politics Nation” that green card holders were detained at airports, handcuffed, their social media accounts reviewed, interrogated and “also asked their view on Donald Trump.”</s>A family waits for someone as protesters gather outside Terminal 4 at JFK airport in opposition to US President Donald Trump’s proposed ban on immigration and travel in Queens, New York City, January 28, 2017. (REUTERS/Joe Penney) A family waits for someone as protesters gather outside Terminal 4 at JFK airport in opposition to US President Donald Trump’s proposed ban on immigration and travel in Queens, New York City, January 28, 2017. (REUTERS/Joe Penney)

US green card holders will require additional screening before they can return to the United States, the White House said on Saturday. Earlier, a Department of Homeland Security official said people holding green cards, making them legal permanent US residents, were included in President Donald Trump’s executive action temporarily barring people from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States.

Watch: US President Donald Trump Expected To Order Temporary Ban On Refugees

“It will bar green card holders,” Gillian Christensen, acting Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman, said in an email.

A senior White House official later sought to clarify the situation, saying green card holders who had left the United States and wanted to return would have to visit a US embassy or consulate to undergo additional screening.

“You will be allowed to re-enter the United States pending a routine rescreening,” the official said.</s>A top White House official appeared to reverse a key part of President Trump’s order on Sunday, saying that people from the affected countries who hold green cards will not be prevented from returning to the United States.

But the official, Reince Priebus, the White House chief of staff, also said that border agents had “discretionary authority” to detain and question suspicious travelers from certain countries. That statement seemed to add to the uncertainty over how the executive order will be interpreted and enforced in the days ahead.

Part of the president’s order gives preferential treatment to Christians who try to enter the United States from majority-Muslim countries. In a Twitter post on Sunday morning, deplored the killings of Christians in the Middle East without noting the killings of Muslims, who have been killed in vastly greater numbers in Iraq, and elsewhere.

asserted last week that Christians had been “treated horribly” under previous administrations. “If you were a Muslim, you could come in, but if you were a Christian, it was almost impossible,” he said Friday in an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network. “I thought it was very, very unfair. So we are going to help them.” The president’s order, enacted with the stroke of a pen at 4:42 pm Eastern on Friday, suspended entry of all refugees to the United States for 120 days, barred Syrian refugees indefinitely and blocked entry into the United States for 90 days for citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen.

A series of rulings by federal judges across the country blocked part of the president’s actions, preventing the government from deporting some travelers who found themselves ensnared by the presidential order. But the court decisions largely stopped short of letting them into the country or issuing a broader ruling on the constitutionality of Trump’s actions. Lawyers for those denied entry said on Sunday that there was significant confusion and disagreement among border agents about who was affected by Trump’s order.

In a statement Sunday morning, the Department of Homeland Security said that agents would “continue to enforce all of President Trump’s executive orders,” and that “prohibited travel will remain prohibited.” But it also said that the department “will comply with judicial orders.” The confusion was evident in the handling of those who have valid green cards, making them legal permanent residents of the United States. On Saturday night, the Department of Homeland Security said that Trump’s order did apply to holders who were travelling to the United States from the seven countries affected.</s>However, a senior administration official said yesterday that, yes, green card holders from the seven named countries (Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen) would need to check with a US consulate to learn whether they could return to their homes in the US, as their entry would be considered on an individual basis.

"It's being cleared on a case-by-case basis and being moved expeditiously," the official told Reuters.

This morning, Priebus added to the confusion.

"As far as green card holders moving forward, it doesn't affect them," Priebus told NBC's "Meet The Press," adding that the administration had not overruled the Department of Homeland Security's recommendation that green card holders be excluded from the new rules.

"But here's the deal, if you're coming in and out of one of those seven countries… then you're going to be subjected temporarily with more questioning until a better program is put in place over the next several months," he said.

Asked to confirm whether it would actually not impact green card holders from the seven countries, he said, "Well, of course it does."

Priebus "clarified" that individuals "traveling back and forth" from those seven countries would be "subjected to further screening," and that he even US citizens traveling to and from the seven countries should expect to be pulled aside for further questioning.

Asked whether that constituted "affecting" or "not affecting" green card holders, Priebus said, "The executive order doesn't affect green card holders moving forward. I said that. But what I'm suggesting to you is that Customs and Border Patrol… if they have a person that's traveling back and forth to Libya or Somalia or Yemen, I would suspect within their discretion, they might ask a few more questions [at airports] when someone's coming back and forth within their discretionary authority as a customs and border patrol agent."

So, according to the White House chief of staff, green card holders, who have already gone through a strict vetting process to even be issued the precious document, are not officially required to be stopped and prevented from entering. But border control officials should harass them? But it's not in the order.

"There's discretionary authority that a customs and border patrol agent has when they suspect that someone is up to no good that's traveling back and forth to Libya or Yemen. And I'm not suggesting it's in the order. I'm suggesting that at every level in an airport a customs and border patrol agent has the authority to use their discretion to ask questions. That's all we're talking about. We're off on a tangent that has nothing to do with the executive order."

He also said that other countries, Saudi Arabia among them, could be added to the travel ban.

Referring to the chaotic scenes at airports, yesterday, Priebus was asked whether a grace period on enforcing the ban might have been helpful.

"I don't think you want to have a grace period, Chuck, because then people that want to do bad things to Americans just move up their travel dates," he said.

He also said the administration had been working with DHS and US Customs and Border Protection for some time before the order was signed, and that the agencies were quite prepared.

"And so it wasn't chaos," he said. Priebus said 325,000 people from foreign countries came into the US yesterday, and 109 people were detained briefly.

"Most of those people were moved out. We've got a couple dozen more that remain. And I would suspect as long as they're not awful people that they will move through before another half a day today. And perhaps some of these people should be detained further. And if they're folks that shouldn't be in this country they're going to be detained. And so apologize for nothing here."

He also claimed "75% to 80% of Americans" agree with the ban, a statistic that seems inconsistent with the thousands of demonstrators who showed up at US airports yesterday to protest the new regulations and the protests already underway today.

US Senator John McCain is among the many, many other Americans still confused as to what the new bans actually mean.

"It's been a very confusing process," the Republican Senator told CBS. He suggested that the new order will probably help Daesh develop "more propaganda" and wondered why Iraq, where US forces are fighting alongside Iraqi forces to oust the terrorist group, is included in the ban.

The DHS issued a press release on the ban January 29, in which it said it would continue to enforce all presidential executive orders.

"Approximately 80 million international travelers enter the United States every year," the DHS reported. "Yesterday, less than one percent of the more than 325,000 international air travelers who arrive every day were inconvenienced while enhanced security measures were implemented. These individuals went through enhanced security screenings and are being processed for entry to the United States, consistent with our immigration laws and judicial orders."</s>WASHINGTON – The White House on Sunday defended its implementation of President Donald Trump‘s executive action targeting immigration from seven predominantly Muslim countries and said only two dozen travelers remain detained.

“It wasn’t chaos,” Chief of Staff Reince Priebus said on NBC’s Meet the Press program, adding that 325,000 travelers entered the United States on Saturday and 109 of them were detained.

“Most of those people were moved out. We’ve got a couple dozen more that remain and I would suspect that as long as they’re not awful people that they will move through before another half a day today,” he said.

Conflicting media and government reports caused confusion for airlines struggling to deal with the order Saturday.

READ MORE: Donald Trump defends ‘extreme vetting’ as European leaders denounce US travel ban

CBP informed air carriers about the executive order in a conference call late on Friday, said a person familiar with the agency’s communications. CBP then sent written guidance before noon on Saturday saying that green card holders were “not included” in the ban and could continue to travel to the United States. The source said airlines were allowing travelers with green cards on flights until told otherwise.

WATCH: Trump’s administration more damaging than ‘any terrorist acting alone’: politicians react to travel ban

The Trump administration official later told reporters that U.S. green card holders traveling outside the United States need to check with a U.S. consulate to see whether they can return.

The green card issue has left immigration attorneys confused about how to advise their clients. Attorney David Leopold, from Cleveland, Ohio, said he is erring on the side of caution, advising his clients to stay in the United States to avoid being stranded abroad.

That can create some agonizing dilemmas.

“A Syrian doctor who has a dying mother in Europe cannot go visit her not knowing that he will be able to get back into the United States,” Leopold said.
White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus states that people from the affected countries who have been lawfully admitted for permanent residence, i.e. have a green card, will not be prevented from returning to the United States.