Aides defend Trump travel order
The White House has tried to tamp down concerns about President Donald Trump's sweeping immigration order in the face of widespread protests.
During a round of Sunday show interviews, Trump's aides stressed that just a small portion of travellers had been affected by the order, which temporarily bars the citizens of seven majority Muslim nations from entering the country.
The aides also reversed course and said that citizens of those countries who hold permanent US residency "green cards" will not be barred from re-entering the country, as officials had previously said.
"I can't imagine too many people out there watching this right now think it's unreasonable to ask a few more questions from someone travelling in and out of Libya and Yemen before being let loose in the United States," insisted Trump's chief of staff Reince Priebus. "And that's all this is."
The changes, said White House adviser Kellyanne Conway, are "a small price to pay" to keep the nation safe.
The order has sparked widespread protests and denunciations from Democrats and a handful of Republicans. Many have accused the administration of rushing to implement the changes, resulting in panic and confusion at the nation's airports.
