Circuit panel says Trump can enforce ban on some refugee admissions

A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that President Donald Trump can partially enforce a refugee ban while a legal fight over his executive order is adjudicated in the coming months.

A three-judge panel in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, citing precedent that federal law “exudes deference” to the president on immigration policy, lifted part of a lower court’s injunction last month that instructed the administration to resume refugee admissions despite Trump’s order Jan. 20 that suspended the program for at least 90 days.

But the appeals court also stipulated that the administration must honor the resettlement of all individuals whose refugee status was conditionally approved by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services before the order took effect. Some refugee aid workers said thousands of people are thought to have received conditional approval and are awaiting resettlement.

The 9th Circuit panel was composed of Judges Barry G. Silverman, appointed by President Bill Clinton; Bridget Shelton Bade, appointed by Trump; and Ana de Alba, appointed by President Joe Biden.

The ruling represents a partial setback for immigrant rights groups that had sued to stop Trump’s executive order. Last month, District Judge Jamal N. Whitehead issued a preliminary injunction blocking the administration from implementing the refugee ban, saying Trump’s executive order usurped the authority of Congress. The Justice Department appealed that decision.

Whitehead issued a second injunction Monday evening, reversing the Trump administration’s attempts to halt State Department funding for refugee-resettlement programs in the United States, including federal contracts for aid groups. Lawyers for those groups said that injunction remains in effect.

The 9th Circuit is in the process of considering the broader constitutional arguments over the legality of Trump’s refugee ban. In issuing its decision Tuesday, the three-judge panel said the president is empowered with significant authority on immigration matters, citing a 2018 Supreme Court ruling that upheld Trump’s effort in his first term to impose a ban on travelers from certain countries on national security grounds.

“We are fighting with our clients to keep the refugee program open,” said Linda Evarts, an attorney for the International Refugee Assistance Project, one of the plaintiffs challenging Trump’s refugee ban. “Today, the 9th Circuit ruling ensures that it remains open in part. We will continue that fight and will litigate those issues to the full extent of the law.”