Priebus has interesting point, but not quite true

The president’s executive order temporarily bans nearly all travel to the United States from seven nations that were “identified by the Obama administration as the seven most dangerous countries in the world in regard to harboring terrorists.” — Reince Priebus in a Jan. 29 appearance on “Meet the Press”

Two days after President Donald Trump temporarily banned certain groups of people from entering the United States, his chief of staff defended the executive order by directing attention to terrorism and Trump’s predecessor, Barack Obama.

The order has been criticized as a “Muslim ban” (it is and it isn’t, we found). But Trump refutes that, asserting that the part of the order targeting seven Muslim-majority countries is aimed at fighting terrorism.

Priebus appeared Jan. 29 on NBC’s “Meet the Press” and said:

“Here’s the deal: If you’re coming in and out of one of those seven countries — by the way, identified by the Obama administration as the seven most dangerous countries in the world

in regard to harboring terrorists and affirmed by Congress multiple times — then you’re going to be subjected temporarily with more questioning until a better program is put in place over the next several months.”

As we noted in our Muslim ban article, the large majority of jihadists committing acts of terror in America have been American citizens or legal residents.

And since 9/11, no one in the United States has been killed in a terrorist attack by someone from the seven countries.

So, were the seven nations that are identified in Trump’s travel ban pegged by the Obama administration as the “seven most dangerous countries in the world in regard to harboring terrorists”?

Not quite in that way, but Priebus has a point.

Trump’s executive order has two major components. It suspended entry of all refugees — those who want to resettle in the United States — for 120 days and barred refugees from Syria indefinitely. It also prohibits nearly all citizens from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen from entering the United States for 90 days.

That travel part of the order is a Muslim ban in the sense that most residents of those seven countries are Muslim. But it’s not a ban, in the sense that the vast majority of Muslims in the world don’t live in those countries and thus are not affected by the order.

A week after the order, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order, lifting the ban, although more court action followed.

The travel part of Trump’s order does target the same seven countries that were singled out with a law Obama signed in December 2015.

That law contains provisions that restrict travel to the United States for people who lived in or visited Iran, Iraq, Sudan, or Syria since March 2011. They must have a visa to enter the United States.

The law was soon expanded by Obama’s Department of Homeland Security to cover Libya, Somalia and Yemen.

Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told us Priebus’ claim is not misleading, but that the law Obama signed doesn’t define the seven countries as the most dangerous in terms of harboring terrorists.

There are countries, such as Pakistan, Afghanistan and others, where militants have significant space to operate, but there could be a variety of reasons why they were not included with countries where travel without visas is restricted by Obama law, he said. For instance, the U.S. government has a delicate relationship with the Pakistani government and there might be a desire on the part of the United States not to restrict travel from people in certain countries.

Our rating

Priebus said Trump’s executive order temporarily bans nearly all travel to the United States from seven nations that were “identified by the Obama administration as the seven most dangerous countries in the world in regard to harboring terrorists.”

The Obama administration did put those seven countries — Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen — on a list that makes travel into the United States somewhat more difficult.

But that list doesn’t necessarily identify the seven as being the most dangerous.

For a statement that is partially accurate but takes things out of context, our rating is Half True.

White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus