Trump Defends Controversial Travel Ban; Protesters at Airport Demonstrate Against Travel Ban; 11-Year-Old Syrian Refugee Reacts to Ban
POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Absolutely. Athena Jones live at the White House. We appreciate it. Thank you so much.</s>ATHENA JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thanks.</s>HARLOW: Top of the hour, 5:00 p.m. Eastern. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Poppy Harlow in New York. Breaking news, President Trump speaking about his controversial executive order. One that bars 134 million people from seven Muslim majority countries from coming to the United States.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's not a Muslim ban but we are totally prepared, it's working out very nicely, you see it at the airports, you see it all over. It's working out very nicely, and we're going to have a very, very strict ban and we're going to have extreme vetting which we should have had in this country for many years.</s>HARLOW: This comes as protesters gather outside of New York's JFK Airport right now. After word spread that at least two Iraqis were detained there despite holding valid U.S. visas, a lawsuit has been filed on their behalf. One of the men has been released and addressed the media.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have a special immigration visa in my passport, me and my family because I work with the U.S. government, I support the U.S. government from the other side of the world. But when I come here they say no. And they treat me as if I break the rules or I do something wrong. I'm surprised, really.</s>HARLOW: New York Congressman Jerry Nadler saying that 11 others are stilling being detained at this hour at JFK Airport. Part of this travel ban that targets Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Sudan and Yemen. But not included in the ban, the four countries where the 9/11 hijackers came from. Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and Lebanon. Reaction is pouring in from across the globe including from Iranian officials who say they will reciprocate by banning U.S. citizens to their country. All of this as the President signs three more executive actions. Let's begin this hour with Rachel Crane, she is live at JFK Airport. The protests still very much on going on behind you.</s>RACHEL CRANE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This crowd is growing, Poppy. I mean, we've seen this crowd grow from just a handful of people to what seems like hundreds and hundreds of people here. Protesting, calling for the release of the detainees that are being held here at JFK. Also for President Trump to reverse his controversial executive order. And it's very peaceful here and very spirited, Poppy. We've seen children, we've seen puppies, families. One family spoke about saying how this is the best civics lesson they could ever give their child. Bringing them here to this protest. We've also recently learned that this is terminal four right here where this protest is being -- where this protest is taking place, and we know that 11 detainees are still being held here. We also have learned that a terminal one, at least six people have been detained today. Several of whom are students. One of which is a student at NYU. Also we heard a student from Stony Brook being held. We're hearing this from a lawyer that's working with families over there. I had an opportunity to speak with the daughter of a family that's being held. Her parents came to visit her. She goes to Stony Brook University. Her parents coming here for the very first time. They've been held since 11:00 a.m. -- Poppy.</s>HARLOW: Rachel, what are they chanting behind you?</s>CRANE: We're having some technical difficulties. Yes.</s>HARLOW: I just said, what are they chanting behind you?</s>HARLOW: Okay. She can't hear me. Rachel Crane, at JFK, thank you. Iran's response to the travel ban, they're slapping their own, no U.S. citizens will be allowed to enter Iran, they say it for as long as President Trump's order is in effect. Joining me from Washington, CNN's international diplomatic editor, Nic Robertson. And Nic, let's begin with this. Because President Trump has signed several new executive actions just moments ago. One of them gives a deadline to his top generals to deliver their plan aimed at destroying ISIS. Do we know anything else about what this new plan will be? Because as you well know, the President was incredibly critical of the former administration's plan to defeat ISIS and the generals themselves.</s>NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Well prior to the signing, we were expecting, we've been told the details would include that there's a 30-day deadline for the generals to come up with this plan. The other details we have at the moment, really what we have from President Trump as he read it out, and I found that very interesting. Because he said this will be to tackle ISIS, in Iraq and Syria. As we know, ISIS is manifesting itself in other countries such as Libya, Afghanistan, Pakistan. These countries as well. But he said specifically here, these were his words. ISIS in Iraq and Syria. And he has said absolutely he's going to double down, bomb ISIS, essentially off the face of the map. That he will eradicate and get rid of ISIS. But it appears as if now he is limiting that in what he is asking in his executive order to ISIS in Iraq and Syria. This of course is the biggest grouping of ISIS. But not all and they've been growing in Libya recently.</s>HARLOW: What is not included in the executive order signed this week on, with this travel ban, Nic, is a safe zone in Syria. This is something that the President campaigned on. He said we should have a safe zone in Syria, so that refugees could go there. Rather than necessarily coming to the United States. Talk to me about that and also how this ban will impact the already-strained refugee programs in other countries? Like Jordan for example. Like Turkey?</s>ROBERTSON: Well that tiny valve that allowed refugees out of Jordan, out of Lebanon, out of Turkey, that allowed them to sort of go through a screening process against the United States or other European countries, it throttles back that valve so that exacerbates the situation for them. The difficulty of course for those governments is, is now they have potentially an even more angry population of refugees on their hands. Who feel that their, you know, their opportunities are limited and curtailed here -- Poppy.</s>HARLOW: Nic Robertson in Washington. Nic, thank you very much for that. Joining me now, California Congressman Adam Schiff, he is the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee. Congressman, thank you for joining us.</s>REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D), CALIFORNIA: You bet. Good to be with you.</s>HARLOW: Your reaction to the President and this travel ban. It essentially would impact, you know, 134 million people, if you look at it in totality of those seven countries. Your reaction?</s>SCHIFF: I think it's a terrible mistake. And a terrible irony that on holocaust remembrance day he would issue a ban, effectively a religious test for people coming here as refugees. It's an awful decision and it plays right into the ISIS and al Qaeda narrative that the west is essentially inhospitable to Muslims. There's a clash of civilizations. It's going to make relations with Muslim countries that we depend upon, in this war on terror much more difficult, much more front. So, I think it's going to be deeply counterproductive. If you look to the problems that we've had in the United States, the attacks that we've had that come from home-grown radicals. They have not come from refugees. And so I think it's a very poor decision. I'm writing today, our letter will go out within the hour to Secretary Kerry. Kelly, rather. Demanding information about anyone being detained at Los Angeles Airport. And my constituents that may be detained or family members of my constituents because we want to make sure that they can have access to legal regress.</s>HARLOW: Congressman, let's listen to what the President said about the need for better vetting procedures. Because his team has pointed to attacks for example in San Bernardino. As sort of a ground for this, even though those attackers were not from any of the countries included. Let's listen to the President's justification.</s>TRUMP: We've taken in tens of thousands of people, we know nothing about them. They can say they vet them. They didn't vet them. They have no papers, how can you vet somebody when you don't know anything about them and they have no papers? How do you vet them? You can't.</s>HARLOW: Why do you think he's wrong?</s>SCHIFF: Well, unfortunately it's the President that knows little about the vetting process. These refugees that we've taken in often have to go through a year and a half, two and a half years of vetting, where their backgrounds are checked out. Where their stories are checked out. In fact the people that he's targeting are the most vetted people coming to the United States. If he wants to pay attention to those that may pose a threat, there are Europeans that can come to this country without a visa, as part of the visa waiver program. We know that there have been a great number of foreign fighters that have left Europe and gone to join the fight. Have come back to Europe. Some of which we know who they are, some of which we don't. That's probably a much greater likelihood of a problem ultimately than those that are going through this two-year vetting process. So I think he needs to familiarize himself exactly with where the threats are coming from. This is again the President shooting from the hip. Going on his gut. When unfortunately these decisions are ill-informed and are going to have serious repercussions.</s>HARLOW: The attackers in San Bernardino who took 14 lives. You know, they were carried out by a woman who came to the United States from Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. She moved there to Saudi Arabia when she was 20. Better vetting, the argument is, may have stopped her, right? She and her husband took these 14 lives. Does that bolster Trump's argument? Noting that those countries by the way, the man in the attack was born in America, she was born in Pakistan. Pakistan is not included on this ban. Does that though help bolster Trump's argument that there should have been better vetting?</s>SCHIFF: No, not at all. And as you point out, Pakistan is not even covered by this order. It's not one of the Muslim countries that's singled out. Moreover, you have one assailant who was born here, another didn't come as a refugee. But came as part of the fiance process. And yes, there are always ways to improve vetting of anyone. This order isn't going to help improve vetting. It is going to cause a lot of distress and a lot of I think animosity within the Muslim world. We're already seen people that have risked their lives for the United States, people serving as interpreters in Iraq, being detained. Now, some of them have been released apparently, but only because of public attention. How many others have been detained around the country, prevented from getting here, that have not gotten the benefit of publicity and are still in detention, we simply don't know. But the fact that these orders would not have prevented San Bernardino, indeed none of the 9/11 hijackers came from these countries. Tells you that the examples that he gives really don't support the orders he's signed.</s>HARLOW: We know that President Trump will give this country, will give priority to Christian refugees. Here's how he put it to the Christian broadcasting network just yesterday.</s>BRODY: As it relates to persecuted Christians. Do you see them as kind of a priority here?</s>PRES. DONALD TRUMP (R), UNITED STATES: Yes.</s>BRODY: You do.</s>TRUMP: Yes. They've been horribly treated. You know, if you were a Christian in Syria, it was impossible, very, very, at least very, very tough to get into the United States. If were you a Muslim, you could come in. And I thought it was very, very unfair. So we are going to help them.</s>HARLOW: I should note that is not factual. Because when you look at the number of refugees that came to this country last year, you had almost an exactly equal number according to pew of Christians and Muslims. Forty six to 44 percent. But do you believe that, do you believe that he's going to correct an unfair system as he puts it?</s>SCHIFF: No. And I'm glad you called the President on this. He is someone who makes up his facts as he goes along and we're going to have to continue to call him out on this. Because unfortunately the basis for a lot of these misguided policies is a misstatement of the facts. But you know listen, Christians have been persecuted in the Middle East. They have been the victim of terrible atrocities. We ought to try to help the Christian populations. But Muslims have also been the victims. In fact more Muslim victims than any other religious group in the region. And I don't see us have a religious test where we say we're not going to accept refugees from Muslim countries. Or if we do, we're only going to accept Christians. That would be a terrible turn of affairs for country that was founded on the idea of religious liberty. And to announce this policy on Holocaust Remembrance Day just adds additional salt to the wounds. This is a man who has learned very little from history. And we don't want to repeat the mistakes. Because frankly, this is how it starts. It starts with a ban on certain countries and then it becomes a very overt ban on a certain religious group.</s>HARLOW: Obviously there's other religious minorities, including the Yazidis who have been persecuted there as well. Congressman, thank you very much for being with us.</s>SCHIFF: Thanks, Poppy.</s>HARLOW: Coming up, we will get a Trump supporter's take on this controversial travel ban. Also an 11-year-old Syrian refugee reads her thank you letter to America. In front of an audience filled with those who have supported the President through the campaign. You'll hear about her dream of being a doctor. And this, we take you inside the vast network of tunnels under the U.S./Mexico border. Our special series on the promised border wall is ahead.