“I think it’s regrettable that there was some confusion on the rollout of this,” Speaker Paul Ryan said. | M.Scott Mahaskey/POLITICO Ryan says immigration rollout was 'confusing'

Speaker Paul Ryan on Tuesday praised President Donald Trump’s new travel restrictions, but said the weekend rollout of the executive order had “regrettable” hiccups and was “confusing.”

“I think it’s regrettable that there was some confusion on the rollout of this,” the Wisconsin Republican said during a news conference.


Ryan was referring to authorized immigrants being barred entry at U.S. airports around the nation.

“No one wanted to see people with green cards or special immigrant visas like translators get caught up in all of this, so I think … regrettably, the rollout was confusing but, on a go-forward basis, I’m confident that Secretary Kelly is going to make sure that this is done correctly,” said Ryan, who huddled Monday with newly installed Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly.

Ryan’s comments came after he praised Trump’s controversial executive order, comparing it to a House-passed bill to temporary pause and beef up vetting under the refugee program. That bill gained bipartisan support after the Paris terrorist attack in November 2015, which was followed by reports that ISIL was trying to infiltrate the nation's refugee programs to carry out terrorist attacks.

“The president has a responsibility to secure this country,” Ryan said, adding that he supports refugee resettlement but that there should be a pause to ensure safety. “We need to pause and we need to make sure that the vetting standards are up to snuff so we can guarantee the safety and security of our country. That is what this does. We want that goal to be achieved.”