White House adviser Miller: If no one disagrees, you're doing it wrong

That President Donald Trump’s executive orders on immigration sparked a fresh wave of demonstrations over the weekend is good news, senior White House adviser Stephen Miller said Monday morning, because “if nobody's disagreeing with what you're doing, then you’re probably not doing anything that really matters.”

Trump set off a firestorm of controversy on Friday that burned through the weekend with an executive order that temporarily bans individuals from seven majority-Muslim nations from entering the U.S. and puts in place an indefinite ban on Syrian refugees. The orders, implemented quickly and without much warning on Friday, created significant confusion even among government officials. Some green card holders were detained as they attempted to enter the U.S. but were later released based on White House guidance.


The moves sparked protests at major airports around the country, with thousands of demonstrators gathering to chant “let them in” as Democratic lawmakers, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, arrived to demand answers from immigration officials. Protesters also gathered in Washington, marching outside the White House and past Trump’s Pennsylvania Avenue luxury hotel.

“I think anytime you do anything hugely successful that challenges a failed orthodoxy, you're going to see protest,” Miller said on “CBS This Morning.” “In fact, if nobody's disagreeing with what you're doing, then you’re probably not doing anything that really matters in the scheme of things.”

Speaking from a snow-covered north lawn of the White House, Miller defended Trump’s executive orders on with the same argument that other administration officials and indeed the president himself have relied on. Miller said that compared the overall number of overseas arrivals, only a relatively small number of travelers were detained under Trump’s order.

Moving forward, he said the Trump administration will use the next 30 days to create a new set of protocols with which to screen individuals entering the U.S. He said those coming into the country, especially those seeking to do so on a permanent basis, must “truly love and support the United States of America.”

"By any measure, I would describe that as efficient, orderly, enormously successful,” Miller said of the order’s implementation over the weekend. “When you have to screen hundreds of thousands of people, day after day, for entry into the United States, it only makes sense that when you’re establishing new vetting procedures, that you try to minimize the burden by reducing migration from the most dangerous areas identified by the administration until a better screening system is put into place.”