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(CNSNews.com) - President Donald Trump reacted Tuesday to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in favor of his travel ban by calling out the media and Democrats for criticizing his plan to place immigration restrictions on Chad, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Syria, Venezuela, and Yemen - all identified by Congress as high risk countries for terrorism.



“Today’s Supreme Court ruling is a tremendous victory for the American People and the Constitution. The Supreme Court has upheld the clear authority of the President to defend the national security of the United States,” the president said in a statement following the ruling.





“In this era of worldwide terrorism and extremist movements bent on harming innocent civilians, we must properly vet those coming into our country. This ruling is also a moment of profound vindication following months of hysterical commentary from the media and Democratic politicians who refuse to do what it takes to secure our border and our country,” he said.



“As long as I am President, I will defend the sovereignty, safety, and security of the American People, and fight for an immigration system that serves the national interests of the United States and its citizens. Our country will always be safe, secure, and protected on my watch,” the president added.



In Trump v. Hawaii, the court sided with Trump’s decision to place “entry restrictions on the nationals of eight foreign states whose systems for managing and sharing information about their nationals the President deemed inadequate.”



The plaintiffs - Hawaii, three people with foreign relative affected by the entry restrictions, and the Muslim Association of Hawaii—argued that the president’s proclamation violated the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) and the Establishment Clause. The court, however, disagreed. It did not reach the Establishment Clause claim.



Among other things, the court held that the president “lawfully exercised the broad discretion granted to him...to suspend the entry of aliens into the United States.”



During a meeting Tuesday with GOP members of Congress in the Cabinet room, Trump told reporters, “You have probably all seen, otherwise you wouldn’t be at the top of your game, the fact that today’s Supreme Court ruling just coming out a tremendous success, a tremendous victory for the American people, and for our Constitution. This is a great victory for our Constitution. We have to be tough, and we have to be safe, and we have to be secure.”



“At a minimum,” he said, the U.S. must vet people coming into the country.



“We know who’s coming in. We know where they’re coming from. The ruling shows that all of the attacks from the media and the Democrat politicians are wrong, and they turned out to be very wrong,” the president said.



“And what we’re looking for as Republicans I can tell you is strong borders, no crime. What the Democrats are looking at is open borders, which will bring tremendous crime. It will bring MS-13 and lots of others that we don’t want to have in our country. It’ll bring tremendous crime,” Trump added. “So I will always be defending the sovereignty, the safety, and the security of the American people.”



“We’re discussing today the funding of the wall, which we very much need. We started the wall. We’re spending a lot of energy and a lot of time, and started up in San Diego and other places. It’s under construction now. We have $1.6 billion, but we’re going to ask for an increase in wall spending so we can finish it quicker. It stops the drugs. It stops people that we don’t want to have, and it gives us security and safety,” he said.