The State Department said about 60,000 visas previously issued to citizens of the seven blocked countries had been revoked as a result of the executive order. 60,000 visas revoked as a result of order Mr Trump said the measures would help protect Americans from terrorist attacks, but opponents labelled it an unconstitutional order targeting people based on religious beliefs. The immigration executive order signed by Mr Trump a week ago temporarily halted the US refugee program and imposed a 90-day suspension on people traveling from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. The decision came on a day that attorneys in four states were in courts challenging Mr Trump's executive order. He said no attacks had been carried out on US soil by individuals from the seven countries affected by the travel ban since that assault.įor Mr Trump's order to be constitutional, Judge Robart said, it had to be "based in fact, as opposed to fiction". Judge Robart probed a Justice Department lawyer on what he called the "litany of harms" suffered by Washington state's universities, and also questioned the administration's use of the September 11 attacks on the United States as a justification for the ban. "The constitution prevailed today," he said. Mr Ferguson said the decision "shuts down the executive order right now". If found illegal, the executive order would be permanently invalidated nationwide. Otherwise, the order will remain in place until Judge Robart considers state attorney-general Bob Ferguson's lawsuit challenging key parts of Mr Trump's order as illegal and unconstitutional. The word "outrageous" was retracted in a second revised statement.īut shortly afterwards, the Department of Justice released a statement saying it would not be filing the emergency stay on Friday night. "At the earliest possible time, the Department of Justice intends to file an emergency stay of this outrageous order and defend the executive order of the President," the White House statement said. The judge had declined to stay the order, suggesting that travel restrictions could be lifted immediately. The White House said it believed the ban to be "lawful and appropriate" and said the US Department of Justice would file an emergency motion to stop the judge's order taking effect. Judge James L Robart's temporary restraining order represents a major setback for Trump's action, although his administration could still have the policy put back into effect with an appeal.
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