Texas backs travel ban
Paxton’s 45-page amicus brief argues Trump has authority to suspend entry
Texas becomes the first state in the nation to back President Donald Trump’s travel ban, throwing its weight behind an executive order that is now tied up in court.
AUSTIN — Texas became the first state in the nation to back President Donald Trump’s travel ban Wednesday, throwing Attorney General Ken Paxton’s weight behind an executive order on immigration that is now tied up in court.
Paxton filed a 45-page amicus brief with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals supporting the U.S. Department of Justice and the Trump administration, arguing the president has the authority to suspend certain people’s entry into the United States to safeguard the country.
“The law makes it very clear that the president has discretion to protect the safety of the American people and our nation’s institutions with respect to who can come into this country,” Paxton, a Republican, said in a statement.
The brief filed with the San Francisco-based appeals court follows legal wrangling there and across the country over the president’s executive order to ban travelers from seven Muslim-majority nations from entering the United States.
A three-judge panel of the circuit court upheld a lower court’s decision to temporarily halt the ban, although the court is mulling whether to permit a larger group of judges to reconsider its decision. The case is likely to reach the U.S. Supreme Court.
In its filing, the Texas attorney general argues the panel’s refusal to reverse the lower court ruling constitutes an “intrusion” into the president’s powers related to national security, foreign affairs and immigration, blocking Trump from “having the latitude necessary to make policy judgements.”
Citing national security, the president signed an executive order nearly three weeks ago to indefinitely ban Syrian refugees from resettling in the U.S. and impose a 90-day ban on people coming here from Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
Texas so far is the only state to emerge in support of the travel ban. Eighteen states have voiced opposition by supporting the states of Washington and Minnesota challenging Trump’s executive order on the basis that it violates the Establishment Clause in the First Amendment by showing preference for one religion over another and the Equal Protection Clause by discriminating based on religion and national origin.
Critics have argued in court that Trump sought to ban Muslims from entering the country, although Texas’ filing counters that the president’s executive order fails to mention Islam or whether travelers are Muslim.
Trump’s executive order has sparked rallies at the nation’s airports, where refugees and other travelers learned upon landing they would be detained and separated from their families. Even some supporters of the ban have complained about the way it was implemented after authorities turned away people with visas and green card holders who have lawful permanent residence in the United States.