Trump to fight judge’s ruling
PRESIDENT CONFIDENT OF WINNING APPEAL TO BAR MUSLIM CITIZENS FROM US Immigration groups urge travellers to quickly rebook.
US President Donald Trump said the justice department will win an appeal filed late on Saturday of a judge’s order lifting a travel ban he had imposed on citizens of seven mainly Muslim countries.
“We’ll win. For the safety of the country, we’ll win,” he told reporters at his private Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, shortly after the justice department filed a notice that it intends to appeal the order.
Trump’s personal attack on US District Judge James Robart in Seattle went too far for some, who said the president was undermining an institution designed to check the power of the White House and Congress.
“The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!” Trump said on Twitter early on Saturday. Trump has said “extreme vetting” of refugees and immigrants is needed to prevent terrorist attacks.
“The judge opens up our country to potential terrorists and others that do not have our best interests at heart. Bad people are very happy!” he tweeted.
As the ban lifted, refugees and thousands of travellers from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen who had been stopped in their tracks last weekend by Trump’s order, scrambled to get flights to quickly enter the United States.
The justice department did not say when it would file its appeal with the Ninth Circuit US Court of Appeals of the ruling that also lifted Trump’s temporary ban imposed on refugee admissions.
The judge, appointed by former Republican President George W Bush, questioned the constitutionality of Trump’s order.
The three-judge panel that will decide whether to immediately block the ruling includes appointees of George W Bush and two former Democratic presidents, Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama.
US immigration advocacy groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union and International Refugee Assistance Project, on Saturday urged those with now valid visas from the seven nations “to consider rebooking travel to the United States immediately” because the ruling could be overturned or put on hold. A state department e-mail said the department was working to begin admitting refugees including Syrians as soon as today.
In an interview with ABC, VicePresident Mike Pence said he did not think Trump’s criticisms of the judge undermined the separation of powers.
Americans are divided over Trump’s order. A Reuters/Ipsos poll this week showed 49% favoured it while 41% did not.
Rights groups, Democrats and US allies have condemned the travel ban as discriminatory. On Saturday, there were protests in Washington, New York, Los Angeles and other cities.
The sudden reversal of the ban catapulted would-be immigrants back to airports, with uncertainty over how long the window to enter the United States would remain open.
The department of homeland security said on Saturday it would return to its normal procedures for screening travellers but that the justice department would file for an emergency stay of the order “at the earliest possible time”.
Virtually all refugees also were barred by Trump’s order, upending the lives of thousands of people who have spent years seeking asylum in the country. –