TRAVEL BAN IN FULL EFFECT
U.S. Supreme Court allows order to be enforced
President Trump’s ban on travelers from six majority-Muslim countries was backed by the U.S. Supreme Court, allowing it to take effect immediately in a decision one immigration watchdog said will make the U.S. safer, especially during the holidays.
Only two of the nine justices, the liberal-leaning Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor, dissented, handing Trump a major victory yesterday. But challenges are already in the federal court pipeline.
“This is a slap down of the lower court judges” that blocked the ban, Jessica Vaughan of the Center for Immigration Studies, told the Herald. “But this is a good thing. We want policies that err on the side of caution to keep our country safe.”
The latest version of the ban — first announced in September — rolls back out just in time for the busiest travel season of the year, Vaughan added. ISIS has stepped up threats online against the U.S. — including a poster of Santa Claus standing next to a box of dynamite in Times Square.
“This ban will improve safety for everyone over the holidays,” she said. “There’s a clear threat from certain parts of the world ... and this gives the benefit of the doubt to the president.”
The ban applies to travelers from Chad, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen.
The new policy is not expected to cause the chaos that erupted at airports, including at Logan International, when Trump rolled out his first ban almost a year ago.
But opponents were quick to lash out at the court’s onepage ruling, saying it shows an unfair bias against Muslims and may not even stop terrorists.
“At the end of the day, a Muslim ban is not making our country any safer,” said John Robbins, executive director of the Massachusetts chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. He said Muslim immigrants are “unlikely” to commit a crime.
“For hundreds of millions of Muslims who look up to America as a land of freedom and equality ... this does a great deal to erode that,” he told the Herald last night. “This is deeply disappointing.”
The Bay State’s political delegation was also quick to condemn the renewal of the travel ban.
“As you travel to visit family and friends this holiday season, take a moment to think of those who will be denied the chance to spend time with their loved ones as a result of this administration’s hateful #TravelBan,” U.S. Sen. Edward J. Markey tweeted.
The president used the win to solicit donations, sending out an email hailing the “huge victory for the American people” and adding he’s a step closer to taking “back control of our own borders.”
White House spokesman Hogan Gidley told The Associated Press the White House was “not surprised by (the) Supreme Court decision permitting immediate enforcement of the President’s proclamation limiting travel from countries presenting heightened risks of terrorism.”
The justices offered no explanation for their order, but the administration had said that blocking the full ban was causing “irreparable harm” because the policy is based on legitimate national security and foreign policy concerns.
In lawsuits filed in Hawaii and Maryland, federal courts said the updated travel ban violated federal immigration law. The travel policy also applies to travelers from North Korea and to some Venezuelan government officials and their families. Also unaffected are refugees. A temporary ban on refugees expired in October.
All the rulings so far have been on a preliminary basis. The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., will be holding arguments on the legality of the ban this week.