Ahead of a scheduled court hearing later Tuesday, the White House expressed confidence that President Trump’s immigration order halting travel from seven majority-Muslim nations will be upheld.
“This isn’t invented. This is in the law, and I expect it to be upheld,” Sebastian Gorka, deputy assistant to the president, said on “Fox & Friends.”
Mr. Gorka called it a “very, very clear executive order.”
“The rights of the president as laid down in the 1952 law and the more recent law are very explicit,” he said. “If there is a national security threat to America, then he has every right to halt, to temporarily put a stop on those who wish to emigrate to the United States or who wish to get refugee status.”
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is scheduled to hear arguments by phone Tuesday after Judge James L. Robart temporarily blocked the order late last week and the Justice Department asked the court to lift the order.
The order imposed a 90-day halt on travel from Iraq, Iran, Syria, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen, and a 120-day pause on the U.S. refugee program.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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