Sen. Chris Murphy (D., Conn.) said Monday on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" that America should adopt the European model for vetting refugees and ban them from having assault rifles instead of going through with President Trump's executive order on refugees.
Murphy appeared on the morning show to discuss Trump's executive order on Friday that effectively placed a moratorium on refugees from seven Muslim-majority countries in the Middle East and Africa coming to America. The executive order triggered protests throughout the country over reports that green card holders were detained at airports when trying to reenter the United States.
During his appearance, Murphy was critical of Trump's order and said that he and other Senate Democrats would be pursuing ways to repeal it. Jon Meacham, executive editor of Random House, asked if Murphy had any praise for Trump's action and what his solution would be for screening refugees coming from high-risk areas.
"Do you see any merit in the president's action? What do you believe should be the security screening? What should the vetting be for immigrants coming in?" Meacham asked.
Murphy appeared to suggest that the United States should adopt the European model for vetting refugees and implement gun control policies to ensure that refugees are not creating a risk to national security.
"I would argue that we should go towards a discussion about a pathway in which there is absolutely no screening," Murphy said.
Murphy continued his answer by criticizing European countries for poorly communicating with each other the status of refugees, but he then seemed to suggest that the United States should adopt the European model for handling refugees.
"So I would go towards a sort of European style in looking at screening, and let's just make sure if folks get to this country and we suspect them of having connections to terrorism, they shouldn't be able to get an assault weapon," Murphy said.
Murphy's office later clarified to the Washington Free Beacon that the senator was not suggesting that the U.S. vet refugees like the Europeans do but rather place tighter controls on people from Europe who travel to America through the Visa Waiver Program. A Murphy spokesman said the senator was arguing the current U.S. refugee program involves sufficient vetting, so the focus should be on the Visa Waiver Program.
The European model for vetting refugees has been criticized for not being thorough enough, particularly after it was reported that one of the terrorists who carried out the Paris attacks in November 2015 had used a forged Syrian passport to travel into Europe as a supposed refugee.
President Trump has pushed back against his detractors who have described his executive order as a "Muslim ban," instead saying, "This is not about religion–this is about terror and keeping our country safe."
UPDATE 10:45 A.M.: This post was updated to include clarification from Sen. Murphy's office on his comments.