“The state has met its burden in demonstrating immediate and irreparable injury,” US District Judge James Robart said. “This TRO (temporary restraining order) is granted on a nationwide basis …” It wasn’t immediately clear what happens next for people who had waited years to receive visas to come to America.
White House spokesman Sean Spicer released a statement late Friday saying they “will file an emergency stay of this outrageous order and defend the executive order of the President, which we believe is lawful and appropriate.” Soon after, the White House sent out a new statement that removed the word “outrageous.”
“The president’s order is intended to protect the homeland and he has the constitutional authority and responsibility to protect the American people,” the statement said. Trump’s order last week sparked protests nationwide and confusion at airports as some travelers were detained.
The White House has argued that it will make the country safer. Washington became the first state to sue over the order that temporarily bans travel for people from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Libya and Yemen and suspends the US refugee program.
State Attorney General Bob Ferguson said the travel ban significantly harms residents and effectively mandates discrimination. Minnesota joined the lawsuit two days later.
60,000 VISAS REVOKED
After the ruling, Ferguson said people from the affected countries can now apply for entry to the US. “Judge Robart’s decision, effective immediately … puts a halt to President Trump’s unconstitutional and unlawful executive order,” Ferguson said.
“The law is a powerful thing – it has the ability to hold everybody accountable to it, and that includes the president of the United States.” Up to 60,000 foreigners from the seven majority-Muslim countries had their visas canceled because of the executive order, the State Department said Friday.
That figure contradicts a statement from a Justice Department lawyer on the same day during a court hearing in Virginia about the ban. The lawyer in that case said about 100,000 visas had been revoked.
The State Department clarified that the higher figure includes diplomatic and other visas that were actually exempted from the travel ban, as well as expired visas.
Ferguson, a Democrat, said the order is harming Washington residents, businesses and its education system. Washington-based businesses Amazon, Expedia and Microsoft support the state’s efforts to stop the order. They say it’s hurting their operations, too.