AMP Report – February 5, 2017
Appeals court declines to reinstate Trump travel ban
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals early Sunday morning (Feb. 5) denied the Justice Department's request for an immediate reinstatement of President Donald Trump's ban on all refugees and travelers from seven Muslim countries.
The Court of Appeals has asked for both sides to file legal briefs before the court makes its final decision after a federal judge halted the program on Friday, January 27, 2017. What this means is that the ruling by US District Court Judge, in Seattle, James Robart, who suspended the ban, will remain in place -- for now.
The US Justice Department filed an appeal just after midnight Sunday, asking to stop Judge Robart's sweeping decision that temporarily halted enforcement of several key provisions of Trump's executive order.
According to CNN, the Justice Department's strongly worded court filing lodged a multi-pronged attack on Robart's decision, emphasizing that halting enforcement of the travel ban "harms the public" and "second-guesses the President's national security judgment" in the immigration context. "(Robart's ruling) contravenes the considered judgment of Congress that the President should have the unreviewable authority to suspend the admission of any class of aliens."
"Courts are particularly ill-equipped to second-guess the President's prospective judgment about future risks. Unlike the President, courts do not have access to classified information about the threat posed by terrorist organizations operating in particular nations, the efforts of those organizations to infiltrate the United States, or gaps in the vetting process," the filing said.
"The injunction immediately harms the public by thwarting enforcement of an Executive Order issued by the President, based on his national security judgment," lawyers wrote in their motion.
"The injunction contravenes the constitutional separation of powers; harms the public by thwarting enforcement of an Executive Order issued by the nation’s elected representative responsible for immigration matters and foreign affairs; and second-guesses the President’s national security judgment about the quantum of risk posed by the admission of certain classes of aliens and the best means of minimizing that risk," it said.
Acting Solicitor General Noel Francisco forcefully argued in the government's brief that presidential authority is “largely immune from judicial control” when it comes to deciding who can enter or stay in the United States.
On Saturday, the Department of Homeland Security announced it had suspended "any and all" actions to implement the immigration order and would resume standard inspections of travelers, as it did prior to the signing of the travel ban.
After the Ninth Circuit's decision on Sunday, a US Embassy official in Baghdad said that holders of valid US visas, including Iraqi Special Immigrant Visas, would be allowed to travel to the United States.
"The US Government has determined that it is in the national interest to allow Iraqi Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) holders to continue to travel to the United States," the embassy official said, adding that the embassy had been in contact with the SIV applicants. [American Muslim Perspective Report AMP]
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