Judge blocks order on refugees

President Trump can’t let state and local governments ‘veto’ resettlement, he rules.

SILVER SPRING, Md. — President Trump can’t give state and local governments “veto power” to reject refugees from resettling within their borders, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.

U.S. District Judge Peter Messitte agreed to block Trump’s executive order requiring resettlement agencies to get written consent from state and local officials in any jurisdiction where they want to resettle refugees beyond June.

In his 31-page ruling, Messitte said the agencies are likely to succeed in showing that November’s executive order is unlawful because it gives state and local governments veto power over the resettlement of refugees. The judge issued a preliminary injunction requested by three resettlement agencies that sued to challenge the executive order.

Messitte concluded that Trump’s order doesn’t appear to serve the “overall public interest.”

“Refugee resettlement activity should go forward as it developed for the almost 40 years before [the executive order] was announced,” he wrote.

The administration didn’t immediately say whether it will appeal Messitte’s decision. The State Department said it is reviewing the decision and has no immediate comment.

Church World Service, the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service and HIAS — a Jewish nonprofit

— filed the lawsuit in Greenbelt, Md., on Nov. 21. They are three of the nine national organizations that have agreements with the federal government to provide housing and other services for refugees. The agencies argued the order illegally conflicts with the 1980 Refugee Act.

Texas, which took in more refugees than any other state during the 2018 fiscal year, became the first state known to reject the resettlement of new refugees. Gov. Greg Abbott said in a letter released Friday that Texas “has been left by Congress to deal with disproportionate migration issues resulting from a broken federal immigration system.”

“It’s a significant day in which the rule of law won,” said Krish O’Mara Vignarajah, the head of the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service.