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President Trumps Revised Travel Restriction Suspended by U.S. Federal District Courts

On March 15, 2017, two federal judges issued nationwide temporary restraining orders to block the implementation of U.S. President Trump’s “Executive Order Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States” before it could come into effect on March 16.


The first nationwide temporary restraining order (TRO) was issued by United States District Judge Derrick K. Watson at the federal court in Honolulu, Hawaii, in the case State of Hawaii et al. v Trump et al. The TRO covers not only Section 2 of the Executive Order, which contains the provisions enacting a temporary suspension of entry for nationals of six designated countries (Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen) but also covers Section 6, which includes limits on the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program for the fiscal year 2017.


Several hours after Judge Watson issued his order for a TRO, United States District Judge Theodore D. Chuang issued a similar ruling in Maryland. While he declined to block the entire Executive Order from going into effect, he ruled that Section 2, which aimed to suspend entry into the U.S. for nationals of the six designated countries, could not be enforced.


Therefore for the moment, the travel ban sections barring entry for nationals of the six designated countries and limiting the number of refugees admitted into the United States for the fiscal year 2017 will not come into effect. While the current TRO is, of course, temporary, it remains to be seen whether the full travel ban will come into effect at a later date.

The full text of Judge Watson’s order issuing a nationwide Temporary Restraining Order is available online directly from the federal court in Hawaii: http://www.hid.uscourts.gov/files/announcement142/CV17-50%20219%20doc.pdf.


The full text of Judge Chuang’s memorandum opinion and order is available online directly from the federal court in Maryland: http://www.mdd.uscourts.gov/news/international-refugee-assistance-project-et-al-v-donald-j-trump-et-al-tdc-17-0361-2017-03