Rep. Peter Roskam defended President Donald Trump’s controversial executive order on immigration during a radio appearance earlier this week
"By being provocative and by provoking action, he stirred up a lot of things,” Roskam told AM560 Monday. "But here’s what we know, the country is safer this morning than it was 72 hours ago.”
Roskam, a Republican whose district includes portions of Cook, DuPage, Lake, Kane and McHenry counties, said Trump is merely making good on his campaign promises. Roskam backed the billionaire’s candidacy in the lead-up to the November election.
“President Trump is doing exactly what candidate Trump promised he’d do,” Roskam said.
Nevertheless, the Republican claimed that, in some ways, Trump is in a “no-win situation.”
“Can you imagine if there hadn’t been any sort of action,” he asked. "People would’ve said, ‘well, he campaigned on these things. He promised to do things. He failed to do it and this terrorist got through.'”
Roskam called the country’s immigration system "a mess," faulting the previous administration.
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“This is unfortunately the consequence of bad policies that Barack Obama allowed, that was tolerance at the borders for people who came in… with bad intend as it relates to the U.S.," Roskam told Proft.
“Is it chaotic? Yes," Roskam said, referring to Trump's order. "Is it ideal? No. Is it going to continue to be bumpy? For sure."
Trump’s executive order halts all refugee resettlement into the U.S. for 120 days, imposes an indefinite ban on refugees from Syria, and suspends entry of immigrants from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia, and Yemen - all Muslim-majority nations - for 90 days.
Questions have been raised about the measure's implementation, which led to hundreds of detainments and sparked widespread protests at airports across the country. On Thursday, the Department of Homeland Security's independent Office of the Inspector General launched a formal investigation into the implementation and legality of Trump's travel order, as move that was requested by Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth.
"It's clearly not an ideal situation and there's gonna be a lot of review and a lot of discussion and a lot of discovery," Roskam said Monday. "But I think when it all comes down to it, we've got an executive branch now that is putting the security of the United States at the top of the priority list."
"They're gonna give the benefit of the doubt to American citizens," he added. "They're going to look to look a scant at people that are coming in from countries that are hostile to the U.S. This is a difficult, complicated world that we're in."
Trump has also lauded the order as a necessary step to bolster the country's security, dismissing criticism about the plan’s implementation.
“Everyone is arguing whether or not it is a BAN,” Trump tweeted Wednesday. “Call it what you want, it is about keeping bad people (with bad intentions) out of country!"
