The Trump administration continues to deny legal benefits to some immigrants based on national origin and in direct violation of a federal judge’s June 5 ruling to halt the practice.
In response, an emergency motion was filed June 10 asking the court to enforce its decision requiring the government to resume processing applications for asylum, citizenship, Green Cards and work permits for nationals from the 39 targeted countries, Democracy Forward announced.
“Yet the government, by its own admission, continues to treat the vacated and unlawful policies as operative and has made clear that it believes the court’s order vacating those policies is not presently enforceable,” the nonprofit advocacy and legal organization said in the motion.
John J. McConnell Jr.
Plaintiffs in Dorcas International Institute of Rhode Island v. USCIS have not seen the government take a single step toward implementation of the order handed down by U.S. District Judge John J. McConnell Jr. In fact, the policies targeted in the lawsuit remain on government websites, the motion says.
“As a result — and contrary to this court’s unambiguous order — the government continues to withhold citizenship, Green Cards, work permits and other essential immigration benefits from plaintiffs’ members and clients, as well as immigrants around the country,” the motion reports. “The court’s order documents the extensive harms that the challenged policies have and continue to inflict on immigrant communities.”
In his ruling, McConnell chastised the Trump administration for ignoring American laws governing the treatment of immigrants seeking legal status in the U.S. “Indeed, the agency has violated the very immigration laws that Congress has charged it with administering, as well as the administrative laws that govern the agency’s actions.”
The directives in question were implemented by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in response to the November shooting of two National Guard troops in Washington, D.C., by an Afghan national. The countries covered by the USCIS policies included numerous African, Asian, Latin American and Middle Eastern countries including Afghanistan, Burma, Cuba, Haiti, Nigeria, Syria and Venezuela.
Plaintiffs in the case include Dorcas International Institute of Rhode Island, Refugee Dream Center, Service Employees International Union, International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, African Communities Together, the Venezuelan Association of Massachusetts, the Partnership for the Advancement of New Americans, and American Gateways.
Democracy Forward, the Lawyers’ Committee for Rhode Island, the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services, Muslim Advocates and the South Asian American Justice Collaborative represent the coalition.
The Trump administration said in a motion it would comply with McConnell’s ruling once he issues a final judgment in the case, which is “extraordinary in implication and utterly devoid of a legal foundation,” according to the emergency motion.
“Plaintiffs cannot wait for the government to come into compliance on its own schedule,” the filing adds. “Plaintiffs, their members and clients are profoundly harmed by the challenged policies. The court cannot ignore the evidence in this case that establishes the very real and immediate consequences that plaintiffs face because of the challenged policies. As already noted, many of plaintiffs’ members and clients have lost their jobs and their legal status, and they continue to experience financial and emotional distress due to the situation USICS has placed them in.”
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