Trump’s ‘travel ban’ gets reinstated as SCOTUS agrees to hear case
The Supreme Court on Monday cleared the way for President Trump to install his Executive Order banning immigration from high profile Islamic countries,flagged by the Obama administration for their ties to Islamic State or dangerous militant groups.
Trump quickly praised the court’s move to hear the case in October, saying in a White House statement: “As president, I cannot allow people into our country who want to do us harm,” calling his efforts to limit entry into the country a “suspension” instead of a ban. “I want people who can love the United States and all of its citizens, and who will be hardworking and productive.”
Karen Tumlin, legal director of the National Immigration Law Center, said advocates for refugees and other immigrants would urge the justices this fall to lift the president’s travel ban for everyone seeking to come to the United States.
“We think it’s repugnant to our values that they might be treated differently because of where they are from or how they choose to pray,” Tumlin vowed to reporters.
The case is now a high profile examination of the justices’ weight of the president’s power to set national security priorities against the need to protect individuals from discrimination based on their religious beliefs or national origin.
The court partly endorsed the administration’s view that the president has vast powers to control who crosses the border. The court said the president’s powers to limit immigration “are undoubtedly at their peak when there is no tie between the foreign national and the United States.”
The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement it will discuss the court’s action with the Justice and State departments and said it would implement the ban “professionally, with clear and sufficient public notice, particularly to potentially affected travelers, and in coordination with partners in the travel industry.”
As for refugees, the court held that a person seeking refuge in the US can claim “concrete hardship” — but in the end, if they “lack any such connection to the United States … the balance tips in favor of the government’s compelling need to provide for the Nation’s security.”
The ban, which bars people from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from entering the US for 90 days — outside of the “bona fide” relationship exception — could take effect in as little as 72 hours.
“That’s going to be an extreme headache. Think about how the people at the border, at airports are going to make that decision,” said Page Pate, CNN legal analyst. “Who is going to make this decision? If we leave it to the folks on the front line, that’s just going to lead to more litigation.”
Twice federal judges ruled against the travel order, focusing on the President’s rhetoric during the campaign as a clear indicator that the order is much more intrusive than written and sets up further intrusion on travel.
Refugees into the European Union have now been linked to several of the terrorist attacks and many of the countries are barring further immigration or installing major reform.
[…] Trump is still fighting for the temporary ban on Muslims who want to immigrate to the U.S. from Islamic State sensitive countries, particularly those identified during the Obama administration. […]
[…] Executive Order: Trump travel ban moves ahead as SCOTUS will hear case […]