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Category: Immigration

Four States Seek Temporary Restraining Order Against New Immigration Order

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The attorneys general of four states—Washington, Oregon, New York, and Massachusetts—asked U.S. District Judge James Robart on Thursday to issue a temporary restraining order against the new Trump Administration immigration order, which was issued earlier this week. The attorneys general have argued, in essence, that the ruling that barred the initial immigration order should apply to the new order, which is scheduled to go into effect on March 16.

The request follows a lawsuit filed by the state of Hawaii on Wednesday against the new order.

New Immigration Executive Order

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Secretary of State Rex Tillerson announced a new Executive Order (EO) on immigration today. The new EO limits six nations (Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen) will be restricted for entry to the US for 90 days and thereafter under heightened scrutiny. Iraq is specifically excluded. The order will not go into effect until March 16, 2017.

This will apply to individuals from the six nations who:

  1. are outside the US as of the effective date (March 16, 2017) of the order
  2. did not have a valid visa as of 5 pm EST on January 27,2017; and
  3. do not have a valid visa as of the effective date of the order (March 16, 2017).

This will not apply to anyone with a green card or valid visas issued prior to March 16, 2017.

The Visa Interview Waiver program is also suspended with exemptions for diplomatic or diplomatic-type visas, NATO visas, C-2, G-1 through G-4 visas; or traveling for purpose related to an international IOIA- designated meeting

The EO also calls for additional uniform screening and vetting standards for all immigration programs, including accelerating biometric entry-exit tracking,  and a realignment of the UW Refugee Admission Programs for FY 2017, including a suspension of applications for the 120 days after enactment. Additionally, the EO will limit the number of refugees allowed to enter the US to 50,000 for FY 2017.

Read the new Executive Order.

Read the Presidential Memo on the Executive Order. 

Related to the Executive order, USCIS announced on Friday a “pause” on processing all premium H-1B applications received on or after April 3, 2017. This includes all visa not subject to the cap. There is no indication when the pause will be lifted. 

 

Trump to Address Congress Tonight, Senate Approves Ross, and Zinke Up

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Last night, the Senate confirmed another Cabinet nominee for Trump as it voted 72-27 to confirm billionaire investor Wilbur Ross as Commerce Secretary.

Ross is a 79-year-old businessman who made his fortune by turning around companies in distressed industries like textiles and steel and is expected to play a leading role in trade policy.

The Senate now turns to Interior Secretary nominee, Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-MT). Out of the 15 primary federal department chiefs, Zinke looks like he will soon become the 11th Cabinet member confirmed. The Zinke nomination is expected to take the maximum amount of time possible similar to nearly every other Trump nominee.

Trump Address Congress, 

Meanwhile, it’s a little over a month into his new Administration and President Donald Trump will address a joint session of Congress for the first time tonight at 9 pm Eastern/6 pm Pacific. While not an official State of the Union address, the new president’s first address to Congress traditionally has been a tone setting speech. Expect a speech from Trump that will offer his vision for the country, including his policy priorities, but will not likely be heavy on details.

The While House has previewed the speech and expect Trump to hit on such topics as: the coming Presidential Budget Request (PBR); recent antisemitic attacks; the White House and the media, including CNN and false reporting; Obamacare repeal and replacement; and an extreme vetting Executive Order (expected Wednesday).

See the White House preview here. 

Meanwhile, the White House has said that the PBR will be previewed March 16th with something akin to a skinny budget, but the complete PBR will not be released until mid-May. The OMB, with newly approved OMB Director Mulvaney, began circulating top line numbers to agencies yesterday in preparation for a full budget preview and request.  As those documents were circulating, the Trump PBR will call for $603 billion in military spending, which is a 2% boost from current levels. That sum would also represent a $54 billion, or 10%, increase over budget caps set in law. Additionally, the plans has no cuts coming from entitlement programs such as Medicare and Social Security. The increase would come from the non discretionary defense portions of the budget.

Before the FY2018 PRB is released, the Trump Administration is expected to ask Congress for a $30 billion in supplemental defense spending via the Overseas Contingency Operations account that is not subject to the spending caps. It’s a move that’s been used by Congress previously. 

Appeals Court Upholds Decision on Travel Ban

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A three-judge panel in the Ninth Circuit of Appeals kept in place Thursday a temporary restraining order against the Trump Administration executive order that sought, among other things, to bar visa holders from seven nations from entering the United States. The original order was issued by a federal district judge in Western Washington after a suit against the ban was filed by the states of Washington and Minnesota. The initial suit by Washington and Minnesota included declarations from a number of educational entities, including the University of Washington and Washington State University.

The decision primarily focused on the question of whether the ban should be blocked while the legality of the policy behind the ban is examined. The judges ruled unanimously against the various arguments offered by the Administration.

The Administration is now weighing its next steps in the process.