The Syrian president on Thursday said he supports the Trump administration’s immigration ban because it will help prevent terrorists from sneaking into Western countries.

“It’s against the terrorists that would infiltrate some of the immigrants to the West. And that happened. It happened in Europe, mainly in Germany,” Bashar al-Assad said in a radio interview, Reuters reported.

“I think the aim of Trump is to prevent those people from coming.” It was “not against the Syrian people,” Assad said about Trump’s executive order, which includes Syria as one of the seven countries barred from sending immigrants to the US.

Trump has said his travel ban, which has been put on hold by a federal appeals court, will help secure America’s borders from terrorists.

“Our country needs strong borders and extreme vetting, NOW. Look what is happening all over Europe and, indeed, the world – a horrible mess!” the president tweeted last month defending his order.