Minneapolis
AP
—
A federal judge on Friday prolonged an order protecting refugees in Minnesota who’re lawfully in the US from being arrested and deported, saying a Trump administration coverage turns the “American Dream into a dystopian nightmare.”
US District Judge John Tunheim granted a movement by advocates for refugees to transform a brief restraining order that he issued in January right into a extra everlasting preliminary injunction whereas the case develops additional.
The order applies solely in Minnesota. But the implications of a brand new nationwide coverage on refugees that the Department of Homeland Security introduced February 18 had been a significant a part of the dialogue at a listening to held by the judge the following day.
“Minnesota refugees can now live their lives without fear that their own government will snatch them off the street and imprison them far from loved ones,” Kimberly Grano, an lawyer with the International Refugee Assistance Project, instructed The Associated Press.
The Trump administration asserts it has the appropriate to arrest probably tens of 1000’s of refugees throughout the US who entered the nation legally however don’t but have inexperienced playing cards. A brand new Homeland Security memo interprets immigration legislation to say that refugees making use of for inexperienced playing cards should return to federal custody one 12 months after they had been admitted to the U.S. in order that their functions might be reviewed.
The judge, nonetheless, expressed disbelief in a 66-page opinion.
“This Court will not allow federal authorities to use a new and erroneous statutory interpretation to terrorize refugees who immigrated to this country under the promise that they would be welcomed and allowed to live in peace, far from the persecution they fled,” Tunheim mentioned.
He mentioned the US many years in the past promised refugees fleeing persecution that they might construct a brand new life after rigorous background checks.
“We promised them the hope that one day they could achieve the American Dream,” Tunheim mentioned. “The Government’s new policy breaks that promise — without congressional authorization — and raises serious constitutional concerns. The new policy turns the refugees’ American Dream into a dystopian nightmare.”
Homeland Security and US Citizenship and Immigration Services mentioned in a press release Friday evening that the ruling was “yet another lawless and activist order from a federal judge” and that the Trump administration anticipated to be “vindicated in court.”
“USCIS is committed to rooting out fraud and protecting the public safety and national security interests of the American people by screening and vetting aliens,” the assertion mentioned.
Justice Department lawyer Brantley Mayers mentioned throughout a court docket listening to final week that the federal government ought to have the appropriate to arrest refugees one 12 months after getting into the U.S., however he additionally indicated that may not at all times occur.
The judge famous that one refugee in the case, recognized as D. Doe, was arrested in January after being instructed that somebody had struck his automotive.
“He was immediately flown to Texas, where he was interrogated about his refugee status. He was kept in ‘shackles and handcuffs’ for sixteen hours. D. Doe was ultimately released on the streets of Texas, left to find his way back to Minnesota,” Tunheim mentioned.