U.S. District Court Judge Peter Messitte in Maryland issued a preliminary injunction to three national refugee resettlement agencies that filed suit on November 21, 2019, challenging the president’s executive order, according to The Hill.
Church World Service, Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service and HIAS — a Jewish nonprofit are three of the nine national organizations that have agreements with the federal government to provide housing and other services for refugees.
In their lawsuit, the group of faith-based agencies contended the executive order “violates federal law, which requires federal agencies to make decisions about where refugees are to be placed within the United States according to a detailed list of factors, leaving no room for state and local governments to veto decisions related to refugee policy.”
The agencies also argue the order illegally conflicts with the 1980 Refugee Act. At least 41 states have publicly agreed to accept refugees, but a governor’s decision wouldn’t preclude local officials from refusing to give their consent.
Today the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland heard arguments in HIAS v Trump, the lawsuit challenging the president’s EO giving state+local officials the power to block refugees from being resettled in their jurisdictions.
Learn more. January 8, 2020
Federal court decision
“Lest there be any doubt, giving States and Local Governments the power to consent to the resettlement of refugees — which is to say veto power to determine whether refugees will be received in their midst — flies in the face of clear Congressional intent, as expressed in the legislative history of the statute,” Messitte, who was appointed by former President Clinton, wrote in his 31-page opinion.
“Granting the preliminary inductive relief Plaintiffs seek does,” he continued. “Refugee resettlement activity should go forward as it developed for the almost 40 years before Executive Order 13888 was announced.”
“What authority allows you to do that?” Noting that the executive order effectively gives the states veto power over admitting refugees, the judge said that “states don’t have the authority to make these kinds of decisions.” #NoRefugeeBans January 8, 2020
Messitte also questioned Justice Department attorney Bradley Humphreys on why the president wanted to change the refugee law, asking, “Is it purely a political thing?” Humphreys said it was meant to “enhance the involvement of state and local officials in the process of resettling refugees, per the Associated Press.
Messitte said it “borders on Orwellian Newspeak” for the administration to claim that the order is meant to merely “enhance the consultation” between the federal governments and the states and localities. “It grants them veto power. Period,” he wrote in his order.
Trump’s executive order
President Donald Trump issued his Executive Order on September 26, 2019, which slashed the number of people being admitted into the U.S. to no more than 18,000, the lowest number since the US began its refugee program in 1980.
In a press release, the state department said that over 350,000 people are expected to seek asylum over the next year. It added that “the current burdens on the US immigration system must be alleviated before it is again possible to resettle a large number of refugees.”
