WASHINGTON _ Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., who argued against a proposed ban on Muslim immigration in December 2015, said Monday he supports President Donald Trump's recent executive order banning refugees and immigrants from seven predominantly Muslim countries.
After a weekend of silence amid national turmoil and confusion, Toomey said in a statement Monday morning: "I support the administration's decision to increase vetting and temporarily suspend the admission of certain individuals from states that sponsor or provide safe havens to terrorists, or are too weak to prosecute terrorists within their borders. Terrorists have successfully infiltrated refugee populations entering Europe and gone on to commit heinous acts of barbarity."
He added that the initial executive order issued Friday was "flawed" but praised the administration for clarifying it.
The senator's statement did not address criticism from Democrats that Trump's order is a Muslim ban in disguise. Other Republicans have pushed back on that attack, because the order targets people from specific countries, not an entire religious group, and still allows Muslim immigration from most nations.
Trump's order indefinitely bans refugees from Syria, stops the admission of other refugees for 120 days and blocks entry from seven other countries for 90 days.
In December 2015, when Trump floated the idea of a Muslim ban and Toomey was facing a tough re-election campaign, the senator spoke out against the idea. "Trump is wrong," he wrote on Twitter. "We should not have a religious test for admission to U.S. We should have a security test, and it should be bullet proof."
Toomey weighed in Monday after a weekend of protests from activists and Democrats, who rushed to Philadelphia International Airport, and criticism of the orders from some Republicans, including two from the Philadelphia area. One of those GOP critics, Rep. Charlie Dent, represents Toomey's hometown, near Allentown, and said relatives of his constituents had been turned away after making years of plans to legally come to the U.S. and buying a house in Pennsylvania.
Toomey's silence over the initial days of chaos, and as he spent at least part of the weekend at a Palm Springs, Calif., seminar sponsored by the conservative donor Koch brothers, drew sharp criticism from the left.
His statement Monday was one of several from Republicans in the region who began speaking up in favor of Trump's executive order, and as Democrats argued that the orders are counter to American values and turn the country's back on people fleeing war-torn countries like Syria.
Democrats cited comments by some Trump supporters and the president's singling out Christian refugees for help to say this was actually the president's promised "Muslim ban" dressed up as something else.
Other Republicans from the Philadelphia region have remained cautious. Neither Rep. Pat Meehan, R-Pa., nor Rep. Tom MacArthur, R-N.J., had issued public statements as of noon Monday.
Meehan, too, had spoken against a Muslim ban in 2015, calling the idea "wrong" and "contrary to our values as a nation," according to Lancaster Online.
Pennsylvania Democrats called Meehan's silence "the ultimate profile in cowardice."
"It's now clear that Representative Meehan will only criticize Donald Trump in the days leading up to an election when both of their names are on the ballot," a spokesman for the state party said Monday.
U.S. Rep. Frank LoBiondo, R-N.J., praised the aims behind the ban, criticizing only the execution.
"The security of our nation and safety of Americans must come first as we combat radical Islamic terrorism. This is a temporary pause in the refugee resettlement program so that we may strengthen the screening process to prevent Islamic jihadists from coming to our country to attack us," LoBiondo said in a statement. But he said the administration should "quickly reassess" the execution of the orders, saying they have caused "wide-spread confusion, frustration and misrepresentation of what America stands for."
U.S. Rep. Ryan Costello, R-Pa., had a similar take late Sunday, saying he supports "a comprehensive review" of immigration and refugee rules by the Trump administration, but calling for allowing entry for green card holders and people who had aided U.S. military efforts.
Dent was joined in breaking ranks by U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., a former FBI agent from Bucks County who criticized Trump's order for singling out specific ethnicities and countries.
