House Speaker Paul Ryan said confusion over President Donald Trump’s executive order suspending immigration from seven Muslim-majority nations was “regrettable” but defended it as in line with past congressional votes and consistent with a mandate to ensure the U.S. was kept safe from terrorists.
.. Mr. Ryan also defended Mr. Trump’s action as consistent with a previous House vote to put on hold a Syrian refugee program and a separate provision that Congress put into law in 2015 to impose new restrictions that ban certain groups from visa-free travel to the U.S.
.. In a statement, the White House said Ms. Yates “has betrayed the Department of Justice by refusing to enforce a legal order designed to protect the citizens of the United States.”
.. Mr. Ryan said he didn’t know what Mr. Trump’s order contained until it was released to the public. “We were briefed on it—the contents of it—as it was being rolled out,” he said.