Federal judge temporarily blocks Trump travel ban
A U.S. judge on Friday imposed a nationwide hold on President Donald Trump’s ban on travelers and immigrants from seven countries, siding with two states that had challenged the executive order that has launched legal battles across the country, CBS News reports.
U.S. District Judge James Robart in Seattle ruled that Washington state and Minnesota had standing to challenge Trump’s order, which government lawyers disputed, and said they showed their case was likely to succeed. About 60,000 people from the affected countries had their visas cancelled.
“The state has met its burden in demonstrating immediate and irreparable injury,” Robart said. “This TRO (temporary restraining order) is granted on a nationwide basis …”
CBS News’ Paula Reid said the order, for the time being, effectively rescinds the Trump executive action, putting on hold the most controversial provisions of the law – including suspending entry of immigrants and nonimmigrants from the relevant counties; banning of refugees from certain countries; giving preference for some refugees based on religion; and banning of Syrian refugees.
It wasn’t immediately clear what happens next for people who had waited years to receive visas to come to America, but an internal email circulated among Homeland Security officials told employees to comply with the ruling immediately.
White House spokesman Sean Spicer released a statement late Friday saying they “will file an emergency stay of this outrageous order and defend the executive order of the President, which we believe is lawful and appropriate.” Soon after, the White House sent out a new statement that removed the word “outrageous.”
This temporary restraining order will remain in place as Robart considers a Washington state lawsuit against Trump’s ban, CBS affiliate KIRO reports. If the lawsuit wins, the executive order could be permanently invalidated nationwide.
On Friday night before the Seattle ruling was made public, Mr. Trump cryptically tweeted that the U.S. must “keep ‘evil’ out of our country.”
U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, the Senate Majority Leader, issued a statement late Friday calling the Seattle ruling “a victory for the Constitution and for all of us who believe this un-American executive order will not make us safer.”
Meanwhile, in a seemingly contradictory ruling, a federal judge in Boston refused to extend a temporary injunction against Mr. Trump’s travel ban.
U.S. District Judge Nathaniel Gorton late Friday declined to renew an order prohibiting the detention or removal of persons as part of Trump’s executive order on refugees and immigrants.
That means his seven-day, temporary injunction granted Jan. 29 will expire as scheduled Sunday. Legal battles are playing out across the U.S. as opponents of the travel ban on citizens from seven predominantly Muslim nations take their fight to the courtroom.
