Two federal courts blocked Pres. Trump's immigration executive order that pauses both the refugee resettlement program and the entry of immigrants and nonimmigrants from seven countries identified by Congress and Pres. Obama as hot spots for terror. In response, the Trump administration said it will honor the rulings, but that it will continue to fight for the executive order in court.
The states of Washington and Minnesota challenged Pres. Trump's order in federal court last week, asking for a temporary restraining order (TRO) to end the pause, and federal district judge James Robart granted the TRO on Friday night. The Trump administration asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to lift the order, but the court refrained from doing so earlier this morning. The Court then asked both sides to file additional legal briefs by Monday afternoon and another ruling could come later this week.
If the Trump administration loses their appeal to the Ninth Circuit, they could appeal the case to the Supreme Court.
Judge Robart's TRO does not apply to the entire executive order. It only applies to sections 3(c), 5(a), 5(b), 5(c), and 5(e). The TRO ends the pauses on both the refugee resettlement program and visas from the seven countries and also impacts the executive order's prioritization of religious minorities through the refugee program.
The TRO does not impact Pres. Trump's cap of 50,000 on the refugee resettlement program for this year, nor does it impact the order's call for the expedited implementation of the biometric entry/exit system.
To read Judge Hobart's ruling, click here, and to learn more about what the Trump order does and doesn't do, see our fact sheet here.
