By Julia Edwards Ainsley
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Homeland Security chief John Kelly told a congressional panel on Tuesday he should have delayed President Donald Trump's ban on refugees and citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries so he could brief Congress on the executive order.
The order, signed with little or no briefing of U.S. government agencies or congressional heads, caused confusion over which travelers were banned and forced the White House to reverse itself and say those with green cards would be granted waivers.
The temporary ban ignited international protests as the United States revoked 60,000 visas and detained some travelers who landed in the United States unaware the order had been signed while they were in flight.
"The desire was to get it out quick so that potentially people that might be coming here to harm us would not take advantage of some period of time that they could jump on an airplane and get here," Kelly told the House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security.
Kelly took the blame for not briefing Congress on the order before it was announced late on Friday Jan. 27.
"This is all on me by the way. I should have delayed it just a bit so that I could talk to members of Congress," he said.
Kelly said the confusion at U.S. airports was caused by court orders challenging the ban that went out the day after it went into effect, adding that his team at DHS took fast action to tweak their operations as necessary.
The ban was suspended by a federal judge last Friday, opening a window for refugees and citizens from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen to enter the United States, pending an appeal by the U.S government.
The ban, which Trump says is needed to protect the United States against Islamist militants, sparked condemnation from critics who said it was discriminatory against Muslims and questioned its value as a security measure.
All the people who carried out fatal attacks inspired by Islamist militancy in the United States since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks were U.S. citizens or legal residents, the New America think tank says. None came to the United States or were from a family that emigrated from one of the countries listed in the travel ban, it said.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco is to
hear arguments about whether to restore the ban at 3 p.m. PST (2300 GMT).
KELLY TEMPERS TRUMP IMMIGRATION PROMISES
Kelly defended the order, at the hearing, claiming that the seven countries on the list were known to have inadequate systems for sharing information with the United States on their potentially dangerous citizens.
He said reports circulated last week that 12 countries could be added to the travel ban were false, adding that no additional countries were being considered.
Kelly also said that funding to cities that refuse to cooperate with immigration agents would only be cut on a case-by-case basis.
Trump had threatened to cut large amounts of federal funding to about 300 so-called 'sanctuary cities' in order to pressure them to cooperate in the apprehension and deportation of illegal immigrants.
Kelly said he did not expect to meet Trump's hiring goals of 5,000 additional U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents and 10,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents within two years. Trump did not specify a timeline when he called for the hiring in his executive action.
Kelly said he would not "skip on training and standards" to speed up the pace of hiring.