Canada To Give Stranded Travelers Temporary Residency
KEILAR: America's northern neighbor is rolling out the welcome mat to those left stranded by President Trump' immigration ban. Canada's immigration minister is now offering temporary resident permits to refugees and foreign nationals impacted by the ban. I want to go live now to CNN's Paula Newton. She is in Ottawa. And tell us more about this, Paula, because this is certainly a statement coming from Canada.</s>PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is a statement, perhaps more subtle and symbolic than really substantive, the government wanted us to know that look so far, they don't know anyone in the situation. What kind of situation that they come to Canada for temporary residency? That's people who find themselves stranded because of the ban. And they wouldn't really elaborate more than that, only to say they would continue to work with their counterparts and see who fit within that category. A busy day today in Canada, well, in terms of people trying to work with the White House to try and figure out the ban. What's so interesting here, Brianna, is the man who made this decision is the immigration minister here. Mr. Hussen is Somali born himself. He came here as a teenager. For a while, the government was just trying to figure out whether or not that applied to him, this ban, in terms that he could not travel to the United States. The government clarified that. And what we got was a bit of a back story about the White House going back and forth with the Canadian government, which I'm sure they've doing with many other governments to say look, if you're a dual Canadian citizen or a permanent resident of Canada, you will be vetted as usual at the airport but you will be allowed to enter the United States. Quite a crazy day.</s>KEILAR: So you said that this is sort of subtle and maybe symbolic. How has the criticism, if any, been of President Trump? Has it been pretty low key? Are they being careful not to outright criticize him?</s>NEWTON: I wouldn't describe it as low key and yet you hit the nail on your head right there. They continue to try and underscore the Canadian policy without condemning the actual ban. Again, the minister has been from Somalia himself was asked directly the question, why not just condemn the ban? It goes against Canadian values. And here's what he said, "Every country has the right to determine their practices. I can only tell you that we will continue on our long-standing tradition of being open to those who seek sanctuary and also to view immigration as a great, great way to boost our economic growth and the prosperity of all Canadians." I'll give him a buy on the great, great, Brianna. I don't think he meant that as any kind of a humorous, you know, adjective there. But basically taking the stand and saying, "Look, Canada remains open to people who have been persecuted. We will offer sanctuary, but absolutely not wanting to get involved in the controversy over this ban." The kind of controversy that you've been covering all day.</s>KEILAR: All right. Paula Newton, thank you for that report. And while we've seen massive protests across the U.S., the travel ban is likely popular among many Americans. We're going to talk about that and the backlash next. You're live in the CNN newsroom.