A Supreme Court justice of the United States on Monday issued a temporary order restoring President Donald Trump’s travel ban, which blocked refugees from six Muslim-majority nations from entering the country, Reuters reported. Justice Anthony Kennedy stayed an appeals court’s ruling that exempted a few refugees from the ban, a day before it was slated to go into effect.
The travel order, which came into effect on June 30, bars visitors from Iran, Libya, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from entering the country. The US State Department had said it will only allow “close family” of those in the US from these countries.
On September 7, a three-judge panel of the Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled that those who are working with resettlement agencies in the country should be exempted from the travel order. Resettlement agencies have cooperative agreements with the Department of State to place newly arrived refugees in the country.
Under this, nearly 24,000 additional refugees would have become eligible to enter the US than otherwise allowed.
The Trump administration had challenged it in court, according to Bloomberg. “The court of appeals’ decision...will disrupt the status quo and frustrate orderly implementation of the order’s refugee provisions,” US Acting Solicitor General Jeffery Wall said in the plea, according to The Independent.
Kennedy has asked petitioners who challenge the refugee travel ban to file a response to the US Justice Department’s claim by Tuesday afternoon.
In July, the US Supreme Court had ruled that Trump’s travel ban can be implemented on a limited basis only by exempting bona fide relationships from it. The top court will hear arguments against Trump’s travel ban on October 10.
Trump has insisted the ban is to protect the US from terrorism and to allow immigration officials to vet those entering the country more closely. But the move has been seen as part of one of Trump’s key presidential campaign promises – a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims” entering the US.
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