Homeland Security chief defends travel ban, but believes it should have been delayed

US President Donald Trump's immigration and travel ban made "an awful lot of sense" but probably should have been delayed at least long enough to brief Congress about it, homeland security secretary John Kelly has told politicians.

Mr Kelly's comment to the House Homeland Security Committee was the most direct acknowledgement by a high-level administration official that the rollout of Mr Trump's executive order had been mishandled.