SEATTLE (AP) — A judge on Monday ordered the Trump administration to acknowledge about 12,000 refugees entering the U.S. under a court order, partially preventing the president’s efforts to suspend the country’s refugee enrollment program.
U.S. District Court Judge Jamal Whitehead's order followed the debate between the Justice Department and the Refugee Resettlement Agency on how to interpret the federal Court of Appeals ruling, which greatly narrowed Whitehead's early ruling.
At a hearing last week, the government said it would only need to process 160 refugees into the country and could make any orders requiring it to accept thousands of people. But the judge dismissed the government's analysis, saying it needed to be “not just read between the 9th Circuit's rulings”, but that the new text of hallucination simply did not exist. ”
“The court will not entertain the rewrite of the results-oriented judicial order of the government, which clearly shows what it says,” Whitehead wrote on Monday. “Of course, the government is free to seek further clarification from the Ninth Circuit. However, the government is not free to violate the statutory and constitutional laws, as well as the direct orders of this court and the Ninth Circuit – while seeking such clarification.”
The refugee program, created by Congress in 1980, is a form of legal immigration to the United States, to move away from war, natural disaster or persecution, a process that usually takes years and involves a lot of scrutiny. This is unlike asylum, which recently arrived in the United States can seek permission because they fear persecution of their own country.
After the second term began on January 20, President Donald Trump issued an executive order to suspend the plan.
This sparked lawsuits for individual refugees, whose efforts to reset in the United States and major refugee aid organizations were stopped, and they believed they had to lay off employees. The government has frozen funds for them to process refugee applications overseas and provide support, such as short-term rental assistance for those who are already in the United States.
Whitehead, the 2023 appointment of former President Joe Biden, blocked the implementation of the Trump order, saying it amounts to the “effective and invalid will of Congress” to formulate a national refugee enrollment plan.
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in March that Whitehead's decision was largely in line with the president's broad power in determining who to allow access to the country, given the government's potential victory in the case.
But the appeals court also said the government should continue to deal with people who have been approved to travel to the United States, some of whom subvert lives abroad by selling property or resigning. The court found that the people were acknowledged on the promises of the federal government.
The appeals court said the government must continue to deal with refugees who had “arranged and confirmed” travel plans before traveling to the United States on January 20, and the Justice Department increased the number of refugees in this category by about 12,000.
Justice Department attorney David Kim said at a hearing last week on how to interpret and enforce the Court of Appeal ruling that the administration believes this means the only refugees who should process the U.S. are those planning to travel to the U.S. within two weeks of Trump's order. The department said there were far fewer refugees that met that definition – only 160.
The judges and lawyers of the Refugee Resettlement Organization disagree with the government's reading. They noted that nothing was suggested in the 9th Circuit order, which was a two-week window. Instead, the order should apply to any refugee who has approved to come to the United States and develop a travel plan, regardless of when that travel plan is scheduled, Whitehead said.
Whitehead ordered the government to direct the office of the agency and employees, including the U.S. Embassy, to resume handling of refugee cases protected by court orders within the next seven days. He also told the government to take immediate steps to promote refugees from the United States that have not yet expired, including medical and safety authorizations.
