Supreme Court partially unblocks Trump travel ban

Passengers arrive from Riyadh at Washington Dulles International Airport after US Supreme Court granted parts of the Trump administration's emergency request to put its travel ban into effect. Picture: James Lawler/Reuters

Passengers arrive from Riyadh at Washington Dulles International Airport after US Supreme Court granted parts of the Trump administration's emergency request to put its travel ban into effect. Picture: James Lawler/Reuters

Published Jun 27, 2017

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Washington - The US Supreme Court is allowing authorities to

partially enforce President Donald Trump's ban on travellers from six

Muslim-majority nations until its nine justices review the executive

order later this year during the first session of its October term.

The Supreme Court said Monday it would allow the US government to

enforce its ban on new visas from the six countries for individuals

who have no connection to the United States.

The move marks a significant development in Trump's efforts since

January to prevent travellers from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria

and Yemen from entering the country and to restrict refugees. The

effort has been tied up in the courts for weeks amid legal challenges

alleging religious discrimination and executive overreach.

The State Department said it will begin enforcing the ban in 72 hours

"in an orderly fashion, consistent with the Supreme Court's unanimous

order."

The department "will provide additional details on implementation

after consultation with the Departments of Justice and Homeland

Security," said spokeswoman Heather Nauert.

A stay on the executive order would remain in effect for those

directly involved in the lower court challenges to the ban and for

those experiencing similar situations to the plaintiffs, such as

people with family in the United States or accepted to a

US university.

The legal challengers to the ban include a man whose wife had sought

a visa and a Hawaii doctor who wanted his Syrian mother-in-law to

come to the United States.

Trump called the decision "a clear victory for our national

security."

"As president, I cannot allow people into our country who want to do

us harm," Trump said in a statement. "I want people who can love the

United States and all of its citizens, and who will be hard-working

and productive."

Trump's temporary halt on the US refugee programme will also be

allowed to go partially into effect, but refugees with connections to

relatives in the US will still be allowed, the court said.

The Supreme Court said lower courts' injunctions preventing the

entire ban from taking effect had gone too far because denying entry

to "foreign nationals abroad who have no connection to the United

States at all ... does not burden any American party by reason of

that party's relationship with the foreign national."

It noted the order itself had allowed for a case-by-case waiver

system for those people with ties to the country.

The court also asked lawyers to weigh in on whether challenges to the

law became moot on June 14, which would have been the 90 expiration

date of the order had it taken immediate effect.

The American Civil Liberties Union welcomed the Supreme Court's

decision to hear the case.

"President Trump's Muslim ban violates the fundamental constitutional

principle that government cannot favor or disfavor any one religion,"

Omar Jadwat, director of the group's immigrants' rights project,

said.

"Courts have repeatedly blocked this indefensible and discriminatory

ban," Jadwat said. "The Supreme Court now has a chance to permanently

strike it down."

Two US appeals courts upheld lower court decisions halting the ban to

allow legal challenges on the basis of religious discrimination. The

Trump administration had appealed to the Supreme Court.

The previous US appeals court decisions had found that Trump exceeded

his executive authority in issuing the order and pointed to the

likelihood that challenges to the measure on the grounds it

discriminated against one religious group were likely to succeed.

The White House has argued that immigration law gives the president

sweeping power to block entry to the United States, but challengers

charge it violates the US Constitution's ban on religious

discrimination and is overly broad.

Trump's first executive order aimed to block entry of citizens from

seven countries and enforce a temporary stop to all refugee arrivals.

After causing widespread disruptions at international airports and

protests from Muslims, rights groups and others, the order was

challenged and blocked by district courts in Hawaii and Washington.

Trump then issued a revised order that blocked new visas from being

issued to people from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen

for 90 days and sought to halt issuances of new refugee admissions

from around the world for 120 days.

dpa

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