Protesters Caused 'Only Disruption' Surrounding Immigration Order: White House Adviser

Stephen Miller said "there hasn't been a low point" since Trump took office.

ByABC News
February 2, 2017, 9:49 PM

— -- White House Senior Adviser Stephen Miller told ABC News' "Powerhouse Politics" podcast that "the only disruption" that resulted from the administration's controversial immigration executive order "was a disruption created by protesters."

Miller also said he believes that in the two weeks of the Trump administration “there hasn’t been a low point.”

Trump’s executive order on immigration -- which temporarily banned most immigration from seven countries and shut down the Syrian refugee program indefinitely -- has received pushback from Democrats in Washington, but Miller told ABC News' Jonathan Karl and Rick Klein on the "Powerhouse Politics" podcast that the majority of the country welcomes the change.

“For them, those kinds of actions are just the first steps in bringing some kind of sanity to how we approach immigration policy in the United States of America,” Miller said.

Critics have claimed that the way the order was implemented caused chaos and confusion among the public, but Miller said "the reality is that for virtually the entire country the only disruption that occurred was a disruption created by protesters.”

In the wake of the order's signing, protests erupted at airports around the country and there was confusion about how the order should be implemented. In the first 72 hours after the order was signed, 721 travelers from the affected countries were not allowed to board planes.

More than a dozen lawsuits ensued and deportations resulting from the order were stayed on the order of a Brooklyn federal judge.

The Trump administration has since clarified the executive order, saying it does not apply to those with green cards and that some dual citizens, which appeared to be banned for 90 days, would be allowed to enter.

Miller said that the order went through “a months-long drafting process,” and that it was an “extremely carefully thought out, carefully implemented proposal.” He said that any issues of implementation can be chalked up to the size of the bureaucracy.

According to Miller, the administration felt there was a need for immediate action and that a review like this has been long overdue.

“If you believe as we do that the next Trojan horse is just waiting to come in, then you have an obligation to act quickly and expeditiously,” he said.

Trump’s advisers and cabinet picks have been a source of media attention in the wake of the inauguration, including chief strategist Steve Bannon, who was featured on the cover of a recent issue of TIME Magazine. However, Miller said that it’s Trump -- and Trump alone -- at the reins.

“The only person who makes decisions here is Donald Trump, and the only person whose vision is executed is Donald Trump,” Miller said. “It’s his vision, his policies, his insights.”

Miller is also looking forward to rolling out the administration’s infrastructure plan, and said that he doesn’t foresee friction with Republicans over spending.

“The Republican party historically has been the party of American industry and the party of the American worker,” Miller said. “You repair a road and make it easier to travel for commerce and you bring new workers into a community… you create enormous long-term economic benefit.”

However, Miller couldn’t say exactly when the plan will be revealed. The pace of healthcare revisions, tax reform and approval of Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch will influence the infrastructure timeline.

“This is going to be the busiest year that many of us have seen in our entire lives,” Miller said. “We’ve already started with transformational change on many different fronts, and I think that pace of activity is going to continue.”

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