RESISTANCE

Trump’s Revised Travel Ban Hits First Setback

Syrian asylum-seekers allowed entry despite ban.

A federal judge has blocked the enforcement of President Donald Trump’s revised travel ban to allow the wife and child of a Syrian asylum-seeker entry into the U.S. U.S. District Judge William Conley in Wisconsin granted a temporary restraining order on Friday that prohibits Trump’s policy from applying to the family of the refugee, who was already granted asylum in the U.S., Reuters reported. The identity of the Syrian refugee has not been disclosed, as the case was brought before the court anonymously to protect family members still living in Aleppo. In his ruling, Conley said the plaintiff’s family faces “significant risk of irreparable harm” if they are forced to remain in war-torn Syria. In the lawsuit, the plaintiff said he fled Aleppo to “escape near-certain death” by sectarian military forces. He had managed to secure asylum for himself and his family and was in the final stages of processing his application when Trump’s first travel ban halted his case on Jan. 27.

The revised travel ban reduced the ban on Syrian refugees to a temporary ban, though it has still faced challenges from asylum-seekers fighting to stop its implementation. The modified travel order also removed Iraq from the list of countries whose citizens are barred entry and removed a clause giving preference to religious minorities. Judge Conley acknowledged the “important differences” between the original travel ban and the revised version, but found that “as the order applies to the plaintiff here, however, the court finds his claims have at least some chance of prevailing for the reasons articulated by other courts.”