NEW YORK: A US appeal court’s refusal to reinstate a temporary travel ban on refugees and citizens from seven countries is a setback for US President Donald Trump’s sweeping immigration agenda, but the government is pressing ahead on multiple legal fronts.
The administration will continue to defend the executive order — both in the Washington case that produced Thursday’s ruling and possibly at the Supreme Court — and in more than a dozen additional lawsuits now moving through the US court system.
On Friday, a federal court in Virginia was to hold a hearing on a request for a preliminary injunction on aspects of the ban in a case brought by the state of Virginia on behalf of lawful permanent residents detained at Dulles International Airport or denied entry after the ban went into effect.
Some of the cases were filed on behalf of travelers from the countries affected by the ban who were detained at US airports upon arriving in the country. Others have been filed by states, civil liberties groups and refugee resettlement agencies with companies and non-profit organizations joining in with supporting briefs.
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a suit on behalf of all the affected people who were in transit at the time the ban took effect or who were detained on arrival in the US, including two Iraqis with connections to the US military.
A district judge in Brooklyn issued a nationwide emergency order, which is still in place, preventing the removal of such travelers.
Federal District Judge Nathaniel Gorton in Boston ruled very differently, upholding the president’s order in a case originally brought on behalf of two Iranian permanent residents of the US who were detained on arriving at the Boston airport.
That decision was in sharp contrast with the ruling by Seattle-based James Robart, who imposed the emergency halt to Trump’s order upheld by the appelate court on Thursday.
Trump praised Gorton and blasted Robart on Twitter, saying “Why aren’t the lawyers looking at and using the Federal Court decision in Boston, which is at conflict with ridiculous lift ban decision?” — Reuters
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