A US District judge ordered the White House to admit 12,000 refugees into the country. This ruling was made after President Trump’s suspension of the refugee admissions program.
In February, President Trump signed an executive order aiming to realign the US Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP). According to the order:
“The United States lacks the ability to absorb large numbers of migrants, and in particular, refugees, into its communities in a manner that does not compromise the availability of resources for Americans, that protects their safety and security, and that ensures the appropriate assimilation of refugees.”
Based on this reasoning, the “order suspends the USRAP until such time as the further entry into the United States of refugees aligns with the interests of the United States.”
Judge Jamal Whitehead (Washington’s Western District Court) delivered the court order blocking the White House’s refugee suspension. On February 25, Whitehead issued a preliminary injunction of the executive order. The court order was directed at defendants President Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, and Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The judge ruled that, within 21 days of the court order, the US government must “Fully resume provision of post-arrival services for admitted Injunction Protected Refugees as envisioned in 8 U.S.C. § 1522.”
He also addressed that “This includes initial housing, transportation, employment training and placement, English language training, cash and medical assistance, and case management support.”
Whitehead ordered the US government not to rewrite the court’s order or disobey it while seeking judicial clarification:
“This Court will not entertain the Government’s result-oriented rewriting of a judicial order that clearly says what it says. The Government is free, of course, to seek further clarification from the Ninth Circuit. But the Government is not free to disobey statutory and constitutional law—and the direct orders of this Court and the Ninth Circuit…”
