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| The modified executive order reduced the number of excluded counties -
removing Iraq from the list - and lifted the indefinite refugee travel
ban for Syrians. (Reuters) | |
A federal judge in Wisconsin dealt the first legal blow to President
Donald Trump's revised travel ban on Friday, barring enforcement of the
policy to deny U.S. entry to the wife and child of a Syrian refugee
already granted asylum in the United States.
The
temporary restraining order, granted by U.S. District Judge William
Conley in Madison, applies only to the family of the Syrian refugee, who
brought the case anonymously to protect the identities of his wife and
daughter, still living in the war-torn Syrian city of Aleppo.
But
it represents the first of several challenges brought against Trump's
newly amended executive order, issued on March 6 and due to go into
effect on March 16, to draw a court ruling in opposition to its
enforcement.
Conley, chief judge of the
federal court in Wisconsin's western district and an appointee of former
President Barack Obama, concluded the plaintiff "has presented some
likelihood of success on the merits" of his case and that his family
faces "significant risk of irreparable harm" if forced to remain in
Syria.
The plaintiff, a Muslim, fled Syria
to the United States in 2014 to "escape near-certain death" at the
hands of sectarian military forces fighting the Syrian government in
Aleppo, according to his lawsuit.
He
subsequently obtained asylum for his wife and their only surviving
child, a daughter, and their application had cleared the security
vetting process and was headed for final processing when it was halted
by Trump's original travel ban on Jan. 27.
That
executive order sought to ban admission to the United States of
citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries - Iran, Libya, Somalia,
Sudan, Syria, Yemen and Iraq - for 120 days and to suspend entry of all
refugees indefinitely.
The original travel
ban, which caused widespread chaos and protests at airports when first
implemented, was rescinded after the state of Washington won a
nationwide federal court order blocking further enforcement of the
policy.
The modified executive order
reduced the number of excluded counties - removing Iraq from the list -
and lifted the indefinite refugee travel ban for Syrians. But opponents
from several states have gone to court seeking to halt its
implementation as well.
"The court
appreciates that there may be important differences between the original
executive order, and the revised executive order," Conley wrote in his
decision. "As the order applies to the plaintiff here, however, the
court finds his claims have at least some chance of prevailing for the
reasons articulated by other courts."
In a
related development on Friday, the federal judge in Seattle who imposed
a nationwide injunction on enforcement of the original travel ban
refused a request to apply that order to the revised policy, saying that
lawyers from states opposed to the measure needed to file more
extensive court papers.
Source: Al arabiya
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