Selective Suspension of Refugee Admissions Is Enjoined

In October, President Trump issued an Executive Order resuming the admission of refugees to the United States, but with increased vetting. (See prior posting.)  A follow-up Agency Memorandum (Fact Sheet) implemented the Executive Order by suspending indefinitely entry of most "follow to join" refugees (i.e. relatives of refugees already resettled in the United States), and suspending for at least 90-days entry of refugees from 11 specified countries.  In Doe v. Trump,  (WD WA, Dec. 23, 2017), a Washington federal district court concluded that the federal agencies involved should have engaged in rulemaking procedures under the Administrative Procedure Act before imposing these restrictions. It also concluded that the suspensions violated various provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act. the court issued a nationwide preliminary injunction barring enforcement of these restrictions as to any refugee with a bona fide relationship to a person or entity within the United States.  All follow-to-join refugees have such a relationship. Politico reports on the decision.