A federal judge ruled that the Trump administration must begin admitting approximately 12,000 refugees into the United States, despite efforts by the administration to halt the country’s refugee admissions program. The decision partially enforces an earlier court order that had been scaled back by a higher court.
The ruling, issued by U.S. District Judge Jamal Whitehead, came after legal arguments from both the Department of Justice and organizations that assist with refugee resettlement. The debate centered on how to interpret a more limited ruling recently issued by a federal appeals court that revised an earlier order from Whitehead.
At a hearing last week, the government maintained that it was only required to allow in 160 refugees and signaled that it would likely challenge any mandate to accept thousands. Judge Whitehead strongly rejected this interpretation, remarking that the government’s reading required “not just reading between the lines” but instead amounted to “hallucinating new text that simply is not there.”
“This Court will not entertain the Government’s result-oriented rewriting of a judicial order that clearly says what it says,” wrote Whitehead in his decision. “The Government is free, of course, to seek further clarification from the Ninth Circuit. But the Government is not free to disobey statutory and constitutional law — and the direct orders of this Court and the Ninth Circuit — while it seeks such clarification.”
The U.S. refugee admissions system, established by Congress in 1980, offers a legal pathway to resettlement for individuals fleeing violence, disasters, or persecution. It is distinct from asylum, which involves people who arrive in the country and then request protection. Refugee resettlement typically includes extensive background checks and takes several years.
When President Donald Trump began his second term on January 20, he signed an executive order that temporarily shut down the refugee admissions process.
That order was swiftly challenged in court by individual refugees who had been awaiting relocation to the U.S., as well as by resettlement agencies that said the administration’s freeze forced them to lay off staff and disrupted funding for services, including overseas processing and rental aid for new arrivals.
Judge Whitehead, who was appointed to the bench in 2023 by President Joe Biden, issued an injunction halting Trump’s order. He argued that the move essentially overrode the will of Congress in creating and funding the refugee program.
In March, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals mostly froze Whitehead’s ruling, agreeing that the president holds wide discretion over who is permitted to enter the United States and concluding that the administration was likely to win on appeal.
Still, the appellate panel found that the government had to keep processing refugees who had already received approval to travel, especially those who had taken irreversible steps in reliance on the government’s promise — such as selling property or resigning from jobs overseas.
The court emphasized that individuals who had confirmed travel arrangements in place before January 20 should still be permitted entry. According to the Justice Department, that group includes around 12,000 refugees.
At last week’s hearing on how to implement the appellate court’s guidance, DOJ attorney David Kim argued that only refugees who were booked to arrive in the U.S. within two weeks of the executive order should be considered eligible for entry. That narrower definition, the department said, covered just 160 people.
Judge Whitehead and the lawyers representing resettlement groups pushed back, saying the government’s interpretation was overly restrictive. Whitehead noted that the Ninth Circuit made no mention of a two-week deadline. Instead, he ruled that any refugee who had received approval and had travel plans confirmed prior to January 20 should be processed.
In his decision, Whitehead instructed the administration to take immediate action within seven days. This includes notifying agency personnel and consular offices to resume handling the cases of affected refugees. He also mandated that the government prioritize the admission of those whose clearances — including medical and security screenings — are still valid.
{Matzav.com}