“Still regrouping from a federal appeals court’s refusal to reinstate President Trump’s controversial ban of nationals from seven predominantly Muslim countries, White House lawyers are working on a rewrite of his executive order that could pass legal muster,” NBC News has learned.

“The work began several days before the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals shot down the White House’s bid to lift a temporary restraining order on Trump’s plan to bar nationals from Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Iraq and Yemen from entering the country for 90 days.”

President Trump’s “wall” along the U.S.-Mexico border would be a series of fences and walls that would cost as much as $21.6 billion, and take more than three years to construct, based on a U.S. Department of Homeland Security internal report seen by Reuters.

“The report’s estimated price-tag is much higher than a $12-billion figure cited by Trump in his campaign and estimates as high as $15 billion from Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.”

“A federal appeals court on Thursday refused to reinstate President Trump’s targeted travel ban, delivering the latest and most stinging judicial rebuke to his effort to make good on a campaign promise and tighten the standards for entry into the United States,” the New York Times reports.

“The ruling was the first from an appeals court on the travel ban, and it was focused on the narrow question of whether it should be blocked while courts consider its lawfulness. The decision is likely to be quickly appealed to the United States Supreme Court.”

“That court remains short-handed and could deadlock. A 4-to-4 tie in the Supreme Court would leave the appeals court’s ruling in place.”

Trump responds: See you in court. The security of our nation is at stake!

“If the U.S. does not win this case as it so obviously should, we can never have the security and safety to which we are entitled. Politics!”

— President Trump, commenting on Twitter about the court case blocking his immigration ban.

A new Quinnipiac poll finds that American voters oppose President Trump’s order suspending all travel to the U.S. from seven Muslim nations by a 51% to 46% margin.

“Overlooked in Donald Trump’s campaign crusade against illegal immigration was his vow to crack down on legal immigration, too,” Politico reports.

“Now, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), a reliable Trump ally, is taking steps to execute that part of the president’s immigration vision… Cotton will start off with legislation being unveiled Tuesday that will dramatically slash the number of immigrants who can obtain green cards and other visas every year.”

President Donald Trump said that he would not be opposed to using defunding as a “weapon” against states that want to be sanctuaries for undocumented immigrants, ABC News reports.

Said Trump: “I don’t want to defund anybody. I want to give them the money they need to properly operate as a city or a state. If they’re going to have sanctuary cities, we may have to do that. Certainly that would be a weapon.”

“Fresh challenges to President Trump’s court-frozen immigration order took shape Monday with two former secretaries of state claiming the White House was undermining national security and nearly 100 Silicon Valley tech companies arguing it will keep the best minds from coming to America,” the Washington Post reports.

“The powerful new voices were added with another legal showdown coming as early as Monday. The suspension of the order, meanwhile, has allowed those previously banned more time to try to reach the United States.”

New York Times: “President Trump is barreling into a confrontation with the courts barely two weeks after taking office, foreshadowing years of legal battles as an administration determined to disrupt the existing order presses the boundaries of executive power.”

“The Justice Department has asked a federal appeals court to lift a ruling by a Seattle judge halting President Donald Trump’s travel ban executive order, but the appeals court turned down the Trump administration’s request for immediate permission to reinstate the controversial limits on travel to the U.S. by citizens of seven majority-Muslim countries,” Politico reports.

“A day after a federal judge temporarily blocked the White House’s immigration order, the government on Saturday began opening the nation’s doors again to refugees and travelers from seven predominantly Muslim nations even as President Trump unleashed a fusillade of criticism against the court ruling and the Justice Department moved to have it overturned,” the New York Times reports.

“On another day of chaotic developments over the week-old order, the State Department reversed its cancellation of visas for people from the seven affected countries and restarted efforts to admit refugees. Aid groups scrambled to take advantage of what they acknowledged might be a brief opportunity for refugees to enter the United States, and small numbers of travelers from the previously banned countries began their journeys, knowing that the judge’s ruling could be reversed at any time.”

“The developments led Mr. Trump to lash out throughout the day on Saturday, prompting criticism that he failed to respect the judicial branch and its power to exert a check on his authority.”

Politico: “Hours after a federal judge ordered customs officers to provide lawyers to travelers detained at Dulles airport last Saturday, senior Trump administration officials instructed the guards to give the travelers phone numbers of legal services organizations, ignoring a mass of lawyers who had gathered at the airport. Most of the legal services offices were closed for the weekend, effectively preventing travelers with green cards from obtaining legal advice. The move was part of what lawyers contend was a series of foot-dragging actions by the administration that appeared to violate court orders against the Trump’s controversial travel ban.”

“Rival court decisions on opposite sides of the country created deep confusion over President Trump’s immigration order on Friday, with a federal judge in Boston issuing a decision defending the measure and another in Seattle blocking it nationwide,” the New York Times reports.

“The Seattle ruling was the most far-reaching to date, temporarily reopening the door to visa holders from seven predominantly Muslim countries.”

“The decisions added to widespread disagreement over how the policy was being carried out, flummoxing immigration lawyers, government officials and travelers a full week after its signing.”

Kellyanne Conway defended the White House’s refugee ban with an assertion that appears to be factually indefensible: She made up a “massacre,” USA Today reports.

Said Conway: “I bet it’s brand new information to people that President Obama had a six-month ban on the Iraqi refugee program after two Iraqis came here to this country, were radicalized and they were the masterminds behind the Bowling Green massacre. Most people don’t know that because it didn’t get covered.”

“However, it seems likely that the incident Conway refers didn’t get covered because there is an overwhelming consensus that there was no massacre at all. She appears to have come down with another case of the ‘alternative facts.'”

“The Trump administration is considering a plan to weed out would-be immigrants who are likely to require public assistance, as well as to deport — when possible — immigrants already living in the United States who depend on taxpayer help,” according to a draft executive order obtained by the Washington Post.

The administration would be seeking to “deny admission to any alien who is likely to become a public charge” and to develop standards for “determining whether an alien is deportable . . . for having become a public charge within five years of entry” — receiving a certain amount of public assistance, including food stamps, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and Medicaid.