Washington AG out to turn Trump ban
Washington Attorney-General Nick Brown said his office is ‘taking a careful look’ to see if there is a basis for any legal challenge to Trump’s order
SPOKANE
Washington state Attorney-General Nick Brown is looking for ways to challenge President Donald Trump’s second travel ban.
The ban in question prevents people from a host of countries from applying for visas to enter the United States. The list includes Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. Heightened restrictions are imposed on people from Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela who are currently outside the United States and don’t hold a valid visa.
Trump said these countries, in particular, have “deficient” passport screenings or have refused to take back their own citizens facing deportation. The list of countries came from an annual report by the Department of Homeland Security on people who remain in the United States after their visas have expired.
His findings rely extensively on an annual Homeland Security report about tourists, businesspeople and students who overstay US visas and arrive by air or sea, singling out countries with high percentages of nationals who remain after their visas expired.
In a video posted on social media, Trump said nationals of countries included in the ban pose “terrorism-related” and “public-safety” risks, as well as risks of overstaying their visas.
“The president says his travel ban is about national security, but this racist order will not make anyone safer,” AG Nick Brown said Tuesday morning. “This ban sweeps up patients, students and families and people fleeing persecution – those people are not national security risks. They add value to this country and it is obvious that this order is driven by Donald Trump’s bleak, absurd social views, and not for protecting the public.”
Brown said his office is “taking a careful look” at the order, and whether or not they have a legal basis to challenge it. He acknowledged that it may be more difficult to do than it was when Washington challenged Trump’s first ban in 2017.
Immigration experts say this ban is more carefully tailored to avoid legal challenges that struck down the first one, the Associated Press reports. Brown said it is also unlikely that the Supreme Court would take action against it, given the change in the balance of the court over the last eight years.
Washington state has continued its legacy of taking the Trump administration to court, with 21 actions filed against the administration so far this term.
The man who led the first challenge against Trump’s 2017 travel ban, Gov. Bob Ferguson, also spoke at the press conference Tuesday.
“It is a little difficult to wrap my mind around the fact that we are back here on another travel ban,” Ferguson said. “Washington will not just stand up to what’s going on, we will lead on this issue just like we have in the past, and I want all Washingtonians to know that.”
Ends
