Sen. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen said Monday she is concerned President Donald Trump's executive order banning travel from seven Middle East countries and the suspension of the refugee program could become a permanent, not temporary policy.
"People will say, 'gee, we've had these 90 days, these 120 days, and we've been kept safe, so let's keep it up,'" the Florida Republican, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, told CNN's "New Day" program. "In fact, that ban and prohibition would have had nothing to with keeping us safe."
Instead, Ros-Lehtinen said, "let's start a new vetting program, let's work with the different agencies, let's run these executive orders through the Department of Homeland Security, the agency that has to implement them, before they're written, before they're signed."
She said she is happy Department of Homeland Security John Kelly has confirmed people who have legal green cards, and who are considered legal permanent residents of the United States would be allowed to enter the country, following an initial determination people with green cards would be barred from entry.
"Well, gee, that's an incredible clarification," Ros-Lehtinen said. "Yes, we are a country that honors the spirit of the law and the letter of the law. These are agreements that we've given to certain people, certain rights, and we shouldn't yank them away by fiat."
Ros-Lehtinen is one of only a handful of Republicans opposing the measure, including Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., who said he supports the measure because of the threat of jihadist groups trying to infiltrate with refugees.
"I like Devin," Ros-Lehtinen said. "He's my chairman of the Intelligence Committee, so I value and trust his judgment. But I disagree on the conclusion. We could put a ban on every country in the world from coming into the United States, and that will certainly keep us safe, but when President Trump cites 9/11 and certain attacks on our homeland, and says that's why I'm putting the temporary ban on these particular countries, how many of those individuals from those countries have committed in any of those acts, on 9/11 or the other terrorist acts?"
She said she would like to congratulate Trump on making good on his promises, but at the same time, she doesn't like many of those promises, including "deporting the dreamers," and "This is one of them."
The congresswoman said she does agree strict vetting criteria is necessary, but does not understand how once a person has a green card, the government can deny the right to enter the country.
"How can we say for no reason, 'No, you're no longer welcome,' just an arbitrary broad brush," Ros-Lehtinen said. "It's just not in the American way, and I hope we take a step back. And I think the courts will review this for times to come."
Meanwhile, the congresswoman said Trump has the right to include chief strategist Steve Bannon in National Security Council meetings, while leaving out the heads of the Department of National Intelligence and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, unless their input is needed.
"The president has a right to do that, but just because he has a right to put people in and keep people out, does not mean he should exercise that right," she said. "I don't think that's a change that is in agreement with keeping our homeland safe."
Ros-Lehtinen also said she thinks Trump needs to "tone it down" when it comes to his use of executive orders.
"Let's try going to Congress for a change and try to do it the old-fashioned way," she said. "We're the legislative branch. Everything seems to be getting done through executive orders these days. We are a co-equal branch of government. He's forgotten that."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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