Rand Paul: US Entry, Exit System Needs Improvements

MSNBC's "Morning Joe"

By Sandy Fitzgerald | Tuesday, 31 January 2017 12:33 PM EST

Even though President Donald Trump's executive order on immigration had a rocky rollout, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said Tuesday there are problems with the nation's entry and exit procedures, and with the visa system that do need work.

"I was told about 400 times over a year and a half that he was going to do this, so I guess I'm not surprised in the rollout," Paul told MSNBC's "Morning Joe." "I was not specifically consulted, and obviously there are some things that didn't go perfectly. But I think really people ought to step back and see if we can agree that there's a problem in order to decide whether we like the solution."

Paul said to him, the problem with the nation's visa program is clear, because about 40 percent of those who come to the United States on a visa end up overstaying and "we have no idea where they are."

"On 9/11, at least two of the hijackers were here on visas," Paul said. "They were traveling back and forth to the Middle East, and we really had no idea where they were, or what they were doing, and they were overstaying their visa."

There are other problems as well, including background checks, Paul said, referring to his hometown of Bowling Green, Ky., where two Iraqi refugees were implicated in a terror plot.

"One of them's fingerprints was on an IED, and yet he got through the screening process, was living in our town, in government housing, on government assistance, and nobody knew that he was already a saboteur and trying to buy missiles to harm us once he got in this country," Paul said.

Paul said he also agrees with Trump's travel ban as far as pausing the system for 90 days is concerned.

"You have to pause the system from areas of high risk for terrorism until you can improve the system," Paul said. "Overall, do I believe exchange with other cultures is good, people going back and forth is good. Trade is good, yes. All of these things are good. But I think you have to make sure the system is working."

In Europe, the refugee problem grew because many people who arrived had no papers, and only gave one name, meaning that person has no background.

"Vetting these people is very, very difficult, and I think we need to do more vetting of people coming with one name from various countries in the Middle East," Paul said.

Meanwhile, Paul said he believes in the separation of powers, and believes the immigration issue and the fix to the entry and exit questions need to come from the legislature, not the president, as should most policies.

"I do think though that in President [Barack] Obama's overreach by creating executive orders, he created things that are temporary and can be undone by executive order," Paul said. "Undoing previous executive orders I'm kind of fine with . . . creating whole immigration law, no, that needs to be done by Congress."