President Donald Trump has spent Saturday feuding with the federal judge who ordered a nationwide halt on Friday to the temporary ban on immigration from seven Muslim-majority nations.
“The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!” Trump wrote early in the day. He followed up later Saturday and said, “What is our country coming to when a judge can halt a Homeland Security travel ban and anyone, even with bad intentions, can come into U.S.?”
“Because the ban was lifted by a judge, many very bad and dangerous people may be pouring into our country. A terrible decision,” Trump added. The president said that “bad people are very happy” about Judge James Robart’s decision. (RELATED: Judge Who Halted Trump Ban Once Declared ‘Black Lives Matter’ From The Bench)
White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Friday that the Department of Justice “intends to file an emergency stay of this outrageous order and defend the executive order of the President.” Spicer added that Trump’s executive order is “intended to protect the homeland and he has the constitutional authority and responsibility to protect the American people.”
The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 gives the president the authority to bar the entry of “any class of aliens into the United States” that he finds “detrimental to the interests” of the country.