LOURDES GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:
Trump administration officials have been circulating on the Sunday talk shows this morning. Let's hear a bit of what they had to say about the executive order on immigration and refugees. Here's White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer on ABC's "This Week." He says the executive order is integral to securing our country.
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SEAN SPICER: We took the first step in ensuring that a terrorist attack won't continue to occur on this country. And so what do we say to the family or to the individual who gets hurt or the family of someone who gets killed because we didn't take the steps? Protecting this nation and our people is the No. 1 priority of this president and our government.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: On NBC's "Meet The Press," White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus downplayed reports of chaos.
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REINCE PRIEBUS: The fact of the matter is 325,000 people from foreign countries came into the United States yesterday. And 109 people were detained for further questioning. Most of those people were moved out. We've got a couple of dozen more that remain.
And I would suspect, as long as they're not awful people, that they will move through before another half a day today. And perhaps some of these people should be detained further. And if they're folks that shouldn't be in this country, they're going to be detained. And so - apologize for nothing here.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: And President Trump's senior adviser Kellyanne Conway echoed Priebus on "Fox News Sunday" and said the ban is a small price to pay.
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KELLYANNE CONWAY: I was stopped many times - weren't you? - after 9/11. I didn't resemble or share a name with or be part of any kind of terrorist conspiracy. But this is what we do to keep a nation safe. I mean, there are - this whole idea that they're being separated and ripped from their families - it's temporary. And it's just circumstantial in terms of whether you're one of those 300 and some who was already on an aircraft or trying to get an aircraft, as opposed to the over 3,000 children who will be forevermore separated from the parents who perished on 9/11.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: That was White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and senior adviser to the president Kellyanne Conway. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.