Senior White House Policy Adviser Stephen Miller told Fox News' "First 100 Days" Tuesday that a revised version of President Donald Trump's travel ban would "have the same basic policy outcome."
Miller claimed that the new executive order would be "responsive" to federal court rulings which halted the original order and resolve "a lot of very technical issues that were brought up by the court."
However, Miller also insisted that the court ruling staying the original order was "flawed" and "erroneous" and that Trump's action was "clearly legal and constitutional."
DHS SECRETARY ORDERS IMMIGRATION AGENT HIRING SURGE, END TO 'CATCH-AND-RELEASE'
"Here's the reality," Miller said. "We’ve got a serious problem in our country of terrorism, radicalization and serious problems of people joining ISIS, joining terror groups, joining Al Qaeda and committing or attempting to commit acts of crime and terror against our nation."
Miller indicated the revised order would apply to the same seven majority-Muslim countries — Iran, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Sudan and Libya — as the previous order.
Miller spoke to host Martha MacCallum at the top of an hour-long immigration town hall in Jacksonville, Fla. hours after Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly directed agency heads to hire thousands more immigration officers, end so-called “catch-and-release” policies and begin work on the president’s promised U.S.-Mexico border wall.
NEW IMMIGRATION POLICIES DRAW PRAISE AND ALARM
Through a show of hands, most of the town hall audience indicated that they supported Trump's tough stance on illegal immigration.
"I think [Miller's] main argument was right on point," said audience member Jack Capra. "Securing our borders is a national security issue [and] it's the federal government's job to keep our citizens safe from external and internal threats. I think immigration is a big contributor to that."
However, immigration attorney Francisco Hernandez told MacCallum that Trump's ordered immigration enforcement changes had "written a blank check that he can't cash."
"He’s going to have to get the money from somewhere," Hernandez said, "and we don’t have the money."
In last year's presidential election, a Fox News exit poll found that 10 percent of Florida voters said immigration was the biggest issue facing the country. Of those voters, 69 percent backed Trump over Hillary Clinton.