Feb. 4 (UPI) — The State Department and Department of Homeland Security suspended enforcement of the so-called “travel ban” for foreigners Saturday after a federal judge halted President Donald Trump‘s executive order on immigration.
But even as two government agencies moved swiftly to comply with the ruling, the Justice Department, at Trump’s order, filed a request for an emergency stay in federal appeals court to reimplement the executive order barring travel from seven predominantly Muslim countries.
“In accordance with the judge’s ruling, DHS has suspended any and all actions implementing the affected sections of the Executive Order entitled, ‘Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States.’ This includes actions to suspend passenger system rules that flag travelers for operational action subject to the Executive Order,” Department of Homeland Security acting press secretary Gillian Christensen said.
The State Department said some 60,000 visas were revoked since the order to stop travelers from seven predominantly Muslim nations from entering America was signed on Jan. 27. The order denied citizens of the countries entry into the United States for 90 days, refugees for 120 days and indefinitely stopped Syrian refugees.
Even before the announcements, major international carriers that included Qatar Airways and Germany’s Lufthansa began acting on the judge’s ruling, allowing travelers covered under the ban to board flights. Qatar Airways, which services countries covered under the ban, said it was directed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection to board nationals with valid documents from Syria, Libya, Iraq, Iran, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
Despite the overnight reversal, The New York Times reported there has not been a major surge in foreign travelers seeking to come to the United States. Some U.S. outposts, including the nation’s embassy in Baghdad, continued to advise travelers seeking entry to hold off until there was more clarification from Washington on the status of the immigration order.
The reversal comes in response to U.S. District Court Judge James Robart’s ruling Friday night that upheld a challenge to Trump’s order from the attorneys general of Washington state and Minnesota.
The White House initially responded to the ruling,calling it “outrageous” before releasing a new statement that omitted that word. Trump himself unleashed a tweetstorm following the judge’s ruling, saying, “The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!”
Robart was appointed to the federal bench by former President George W. Bush.
The Justice Department vowed Friday to seek an emergency stay of the ruling that would enable the federal government to continue enforcing the ban — and the department did just that late Saturday. It was unclear how soon the stay request would be heard by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers the Seattle district court where Robart sits.
Unless the Ninth Circuit sides with the administration, Robart could go farther in preventing the ban from being enforced as soon as Monday. His initial restraining order had the effect of halting the executive order’s implementation — a step other judges had declined to take while striking down parts of the ban or ordering individual exceptions on a case-by-case basis. Robart has scheduled a hearing to determine whether a more permanent temporary injunction should be issued while the trial phase of the challenge plays out.
Robart’s ruling found both states had demonstrated material harm resulting from the travel ban to their public university systems and tax bases. Among the largest group of affected visa holders are foreign-born college students with student visas who were abroad when the order went into effect and have since been unable to return to school.
