A United States appeals court in California on Monday allowed President Donald Trump’s travel ban to come into effect partially. The court order allows the federal government to bar people with no connections to the US from entering the country, Reuters reported.
The three-judge panel of the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco defined connections as family relations and “formal, documented” relationships with US-based entities such as universities and resettlement agencies. Grandparents, grandchildren, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and cousins of US citizens cannot be stopped from entering the country, according to the order.
The Trump administration had unveiled its third travel ban on September 24 after US courts blocked the first two. This order bans citizens of North Korea, Iran, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Venezuela and Chad from travelling to the US. However, a court in Hawaii had blocked the latest directive on October 18, just hours before it was set to go into full effect
Federal Justice Department Spokesperson Lauren Ehrsam said they were reviewing the California court order. “The government will begin enforcing the travel proclamation consistent with the partial stay,” she said. “We believe that the proclamation should be allowed to take effect in its entirety.”
Meanwhile, a group of refugee organisations and individuals filed a lawsuit in a Seattle court on Monday, challenging Trump’s decision to suspend the entry of refugees from 11 countries for at least 90 days.
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