With travel ban still blocked, travellers head to US
PALM BEACH, United States: After a US appeals court refused to restore President Donald Trump’s controversial immigration order, travelers who had been banned from entering the country trickled in Sunday as the White House vowed to prevail in the high- stakes legal battle.
The early- morning ruling from a federal appeals court was the latest chapter in a saga which began on Jan 27, when Trump issued a blanket ban on all refugees, and travelers from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
For now, the decision maintains one made by a federal judge in a lower court, who temporarily suspended Trump’s order on Friday pending a wider legal review. The next deadline comes on Monday, when all parties must submit additional documents to the appellate judges, according to a schedule determined by the court.
Trump initially dispatched Vice President Mike Pence to convey the White House’s position on Sunday’s political talk shows. Pence called the decision ‘ frustrating.’
“We will move very quickly,” he told Fox News. “We are going to win the arguments because we will take the steps necessary to protect the country, which the president of the United States has the authority to do.” But in the mid-afternoon, after taking an uncharacteristic, nearly day-long break from Twitter, Trump came out swinging again.
“Just cannot believe a judge would put our country in such peril. If something happens blame him and court system. People pouring in. Bad!” he wrote.
“I have instructed Homeland Security to check people coming into our country VERY CAREFULLY. The courts are making the job very difficult!”
Meanwhile, travelers from the targeted countries with valid visas began arriving on American soil.
In New York, 33-year- old Sudanese doctor Kamal Fadlalla rejoiced – after a week blocked in his home country, he was back in the Big Apple with friends and colleagues. “It feels great,” Fadlalla told AFP on Sunday at John F Kennedy International Airport. — AFP