Federal judge blocks Trump order canceling refugee admissions program

Donald Trump has received a new judicial setback. This time, to block his attempt to cancel the refugee admission program, which he stopped with an executive order on his first day back in the White House , another of the measures that is part of his campaign against immigration.

Seattle federal judge Jamal Whitehead said in his ruling that the president's actions amount to an "effective override of Congress' will" in establishing the country's refugee admissions program. "The president has broad discretion to suspend refugee admissions. But that authority is not unlimited," Whitehead said, according to AP.

The ruling is a response to the Pacito v. Trump lawsuit filed on February 10 by three refugee advocacy organizations and nine affected parties, who denounced the ban on accepting new refugees and the suspension of federal funding for the program.

“The United States has a moral and legal obligation to protect refugees, and the longer this unlawful suspension continues, the more dire the consequences will be. Refugees and the families and communities waiting to welcome them have been thrown into indefinite limbo, and resettlement agencies ready to serve them are at a loss to know whether they can keep the lights on if the administration continues to withhold critical funding,” said Melissa Keaney, an attorney with the International Refugee Assistance Project, which represented Church World Service, the Jewish refugee resettlement agency HIAS and Lutheran Community Services Northwest in the suit.

Refugee advocates say thousands of foreigners who had been granted permission to enter the United States had their trips cancelled without warning after waiting years, frustrating many family reunification plans and leaving them in limbo.

Trump suspended the program, saying cities and communities had been overwhelmed by “record levels of migration” and did not have the capacity to “absorb large numbers of migrants, and in particular, refugees.”

Administration lawyers argued that Trump’s order was within his authority to deny entry to foreigners whose admission to the country “would be detrimental to the interests of the United States.”

The plaintiffs argue that the suspension of the programme and the elimination of funding do not allow them to carry out their work of assisting refugees already in the country.

The refugee program allows for the reception of foreigners fleeing their countries as a result of war, natural disasters or because they are suffering persecution. It has enjoyed bipartisan support for decades, but Trump already temporarily suspended it during his first term.

“When I was given the opportunity to move to the United States, I felt like I had a second chance at life,” plaintiff Pacito said in a statement when the Seattle lawsuit was filed. The Congolese refugee fled war when he was just 13. “My family sold our belongings and bought new clothes and shoes for our new life in the United States. But the day before we were due to travel, I received a call informing me that our flight had been cancelled. I hoped there was a mistake. That night, my wife, baby and I slept outside the transit center in the parking lot, along with other refugee families hoping to travel to the United States. In the morning, we were told that President Trump had cancelled all refugee travel. Now I don’t know what we are going to do, we have nothing.”

Last week, another federal judge refused to unblock the freeze on the funds ordered by the billionaire in response to a lawsuit filed by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Judge Trevor McFadden, however, scheduled another hearing in the case for next Friday. He also ordered the two sides to have a mediation session with a federal judge next week.