President Trump on Monday falsely said Delta Air Lines and protesters were to blame for the the mass outrage and confusion at airports nationwide this weekend, which was actually sparked by his executive order temporarily banning citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries to the US and suspending the refugee program for 120 days.
Trump blamed Delta's 5-hour system outage, peaceful protesters — and also, bizarrely, Sen. Chuck Schumer's "tears" — for the widespread chaos that erupted as travelers, immigration attorneys, airlines, judges, and custom officials struggled to interpret his executive order.
Only 109 people out of 325,000 were detained and held for questioning. Big problems at airports were caused by Delta computer outage,.....
protesters and the tears of Senator Schumer. Secretary Kelly said that all is going well with very few problems. MAKE AMERICA SAFE AGAIN!
Let's unpack this. There was a Delta system outage that caused delays and led to 280 total cancellations — on Sunday evening into Monday, the airline said.
The confusion over Trump's executive order, however, began on Friday night. He signed the order before 5 p.m. ET and it went into effect immediately — shortly after, an Iraqi man who had risked his life working as an interpreter for US forces was among the first immigrants blocked at New York's JFK airport.
When attorneys for the Iraqi man asked Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials who they could contact, one of the agents responded, "Mr. President. Call Mr. Trump," according to a lawsuit filed by the attorneys.
Reuters reported an exchange between two US lawmakers and a high-ranking border protection official over Iraqis detained at JFK, which also exemplified the confusion over the order.
When asked to clarify if the immigration ban prevented Iraqis from consulting with their lawyer, the border protection official said, "We are as much in the dark as everybody else."
Homeland Security staff were privy to the final details of the order only on the day that Trump signed it, sources told CNN, while Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly saw the details shortly before the order was finalized.
Trump's policy team also bypassed agencies like the Justice Department and Homeland Security who would have ordinarily provided operational guidance, according to CNN's report on the extent of the confusion within the administration.
The Department of Defense scrambled to identify Iraqis who should be exempt from the order, as Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis was not consulted before the order, defense officials told BuzzFeed News.
Passengers and families impacted by the ban — many were stranded at airports in the US and around the world — suffered long hours of uncertainty and anxiety as officials grappled with the order.
And Republican Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham issued a joint statement saying, "It is clear from the confusion at our airports across the nation that President Trump’s executive order was not properly vetted."
Clear from confusion at airports across nation that @POTUS's exec order was not properly vetted - such a hasty process risks harmful results
The senators said they were "particularly concerned by reports that this order went into effect with little to no consultation with the Departments of State, Defense, Justice, and Homeland Security."
Conflicting information from the government and CBP officials about the status of green card holders under the order also added to the problems plaguing airport officials.
According to CBP guidance provided to airports, green card holders were not included in the ban and were permitted to return to the US. However Trump officials told reporters that green card holders would need to check with a US consulate to see if they could travel to the US. After nearly two days of confusion about green card holders, Kelly issued a statement Sunday saying they would not be included in the ban.
A federal judge who issued a stay preventing travelers in the US from being temporarily deported under the order, told the court Saturday, "I think the government hasn’t had a full chance to think about this."
In a statement on Sunday, Trump defended the executive order by comparing it to Obama's 2011 policy. Trump said Obama had "banned visas for refugees from Iraq for six months."
However, an Obama administration official, Jonathan Finer debunked Trump's claim in Foreign Policy, saying that while there were "delays in processing" the flow of Iraqi refugees during a 2011 review of vetting procedures, there was "no outright ban" and refugees continued to be admitted to the US.
Trump also blamed protesters for the problems, even though protests outside at least 10 major airports were largely peaceful and were accommodated by city officials and airport security.
Finally, Trump blamed Sen. Chuck Schumer's "tears" for airport problems referring to the Democrat lawmaker's emotional speech on Sunday condemning Trump's ban as "mean spirited and un-American."
NY Senator Chuck Schumer gets emotional when talking about Trump's refugee ban. "This executive order was mean spi… https://t.co/zTLRgoJpS5
Responding to Trump's tweet, Schumer's spokesperson told BuzzFeed News, "The Tweet on its face is laughable. The President’s policy, which will make us less safe, is not."