A federal judge in Seattle blocks Donald Trump’s effort to halt the refugee admissions system

Despite long-standing support from both parties for accepting thoroughly vetted refugees, the program has become politicized in recent years. Trump also temporarily halted it during his first term, and then dramatically decreased the number of refugees who could enter the U.S. each year.

During arguments, Flentje insisted the order was well within Trump’s authority, citing a law that allows the president to deny entry to foreigners whose admission to the U.S. “would be detrimental to the interests of the United States.”

“This is a broad authority that is essentially like a lawmaking authority conferred on the president,” Flentje said.

He also disputed the notion that the plaintiffs had suffered the sort of “irreparable” harms that would warrant granting a broad order blocking the administration’s actions. Most people whose travel to the U.S. was canceled at the last minute had already been moved to a third country where they were out of danger, he said, and the cancellation of funding for refugee aid groups amounted to a contract dispute.

The judge disagreed.

“I’ve read the declarations,” Whitehead said. “I have refugees stranded in dangerous places. I have families who have sold everything they’ve owned in advance of travel, which was canceled. I have spouses and children separated indefinitely from their family members in the U.S., resettlement agencies that have already laid off hundreds of staff.

“Aren’t these textbook examples of harms that can’t be undone by money damages?” he asked.

The plaintiffs include the International Refugee Assistance Project on behalf of Church World Service, the Jewish refugee resettlement agency HIAS, Lutheran Community Services Northwest, and individual refugees and family members. They said their ability to provide critical services to refugees — including those already in the U.S. — has been severely inhibited by Trump’s order.

IRAP attorney Deepa Alagesan called Trump’s efforts to dismantle the refugee program “far-reaching and devastating.” She argued that the president had not shown how the entry of these refugees would be detrimental to the U.S., and at a news conference after the hearing, the plaintiffs and their supporters described refugees as a blessing to the country rather than a burden.

Tshishiku Henry, an activist who works on behalf of refugees in Washington state, called his presence outside the courthouse “the miracle of the second chance.” He and his wife resettled in the U.S. in 2018 after fleeing war in the Democratic Republic of Congo, he said.