Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at the National Guard Association of the United States’ 146th General Conference, Monday, Aug. 26, 2024, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
A federal judge in Seattle slammed the brakes Tuesday on President Donald Trump’s “dismantling” of the U.S. refugee resettlement system, saying his decision to suspend support for 90-day intervals “crossed the line” of separation of powers.
“To be sure, the president has substantial discretion to suspend refugee admissions, but that authority is not limitless,” U.S. District Judge Jamal Whitehead said in court after issuing a preliminary injunction from the bench, according to the Seattle Times. “I cannot ignore Congress’ detailed framework on refugee admissions. The plaintiffs face concrete irreparable harm.”
A coalition of faith organizations, refugees and U.S. citizens whose family members are refugees are suing the Trump administration in the Western District of Washington. They were seeking a temporary restraining order, a preliminary injunction and a permanent injunction over an executive order that the president handed down last month — Executive Order 14163 — which aims to suspend the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) for 90-day intervals “until such time as the further entry into the United States of refugees aligns with the interests of the United States.”
Whitehead, who is a Joe Biden appointee, granted a preliminary injunction Tuesday that bars Trump from carrying out EO 14163 while he weighs the legality of the lawsuit and claims being made by the plaintiffs. She said that the order ultimately “crossed the line from permissible discretionary action to effective nullification of congressional will.”
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“No refugees will be getting on planes tonight,” David Duea, the president of Lutheran Community Service Northwest, one of the groups suing, told local NBC affiliate KING after Whitehead’s decision came down. “We’re not going to resettle anyone else today, and the refugees we resettled over the last 90 days, it’s still a bit in limbo. We’ll see how the administration reacts.”
The plaintiffs, in their 46-page complaint filed on Feb. 10, say the targeting of refugee support is a “stark violation of federal law” — and not the first time Trump has “attacked refugees and the system that facilitates their resettlement,” the complaint says.
“This Court, as well as courts around the country, uniformly rejected those prior attempts,” the coalition blasts. “Rather than learn from past mistakes, the Trump Administration has repeated them and engaged in severely harmful and irrational conduct that flouts the rule of law.”
Led by a Congolese refugee identified only by the pseudonym Pacito, the refugee resettlement lawsuit accuses Trump of violating the 1980 Refugee Act, which is part of the broader Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). This federal law “sets out detailed policies and procedures” that make up the USRAP, according to the lawsuit, and the plaintiffs say portions of it are “statutorily mandated.”
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The coalition points to Trump’s temporary ban on the admission of refugees from Muslim-majority countries during his first presidency. The present ban goes further by applying to all refugees and being positioned as “indefinite,” their suit says. The plaintiffs include nine people who are affected by Trump’s EO and a trio of resettlement organizations, including Lutheran Community Services Northwest in Tacoma and the Seattle-based faith group Church World Service.
