A federal judge on Saturday partially blocked President Donald Trump’s latest restrictions on refugees from 11 countries, Reuters reported.
Seattle District Judge James Robart’s order is the first judicial obstacle to an executive order that Trump had signed on October 24, which has already led to a significant drop in the number of refugees entering the country.
In the executive order, the White House imposed new restrictions on allowing refugees from 11 nations that the Trump administration called “high risk”.
The order had a 90-day review period for the government to conduct an “in-depth threat assessment” of the countries – Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Mali, North Korea, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. These nations made up more than 40% of refugee admissions to the US in each of the last three years, according to Reuters.
Refugees and aid groups told the court that the policy violated the Constitution and federal rule-making procedures. The Department of Justice argued that US law grants the executive the authority to limit refugee admissions.
Robart ruled that the administration could carry out the security review, but it could not stop processing or admitting refugees until then.
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