Washington judge asked to ease restrictions on refugee ban

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Lawyers with the Department of Justice have asked a federal judge in Seattle to change his order that partially lifted a Trump administration refugee ban.

Just before Christmas, U.S. District Judge James Robart imposed a nationwide injunction that blocks restrictions on reuniting refugee families and partially lifted a ban on refugees from 11 mostly Muslim countries.  Robart limited that part of the injunction to refugees who have a bona fide relationship with people or entities in the United States.  He also said that refugees who have formal agreements with resettlement agencies were covered under his order.  The government does not want to include those agencies.

Government lawyers filed a motion this week saying that although the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has interpreted the “bona fide relationship” to include connections to resettlement agencies, the U.S. Supreme Court has stayed that ruling.

The refugee organizations and the American Civil Liberties Union filed two lawsuits, consolidated into one, challenging the Trump administration’s refugee ban.

Department of Justice lawyers argued in a hearing last week that the ban was a temporary and reasonable way for agencies to deal with gaps in the screening process.  But ACLU and Jewish Family Service lawyers said the government violated federal law when it implemented the ban.

Judge Robart agreed, and also said the refugee ban violated the Immigration and Nationality Act passed by Congress. (AP)

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