STREAM EXCLUSIVE ORIGINALS

The Details Behind A Federal Judge's Decision To Block Trump's Heinous 'Muslim Ban'

The ACLU scored a temporary legal victory.

Donald Trump's executive order banning refugees and Muslim immigrants from entering the United States — including those who landed at U.S. airports with green cards and visas in hand — took a major blow on Saturday night, when three separate federal judges struck back against the seemingly unconstitutional ban.
According to several sources, including Buzzfeed News, a wave of massive, spontaneous protests at airports across the country and mobilization by the ACLU to sue the White House over the ban lead US District Judge Ann Donnelly of Brooklyn granted a nationwide stay of removal — preventing deportation — for those people affected by President Trump’s Friday executive order. The action from Trump was intended to stop the refugee program and halting immigration from seven majority-Muslim countries.

“Nobody is to be removed,” Donnelly told the government lawyers, barring federal officials from removing those with approved refugee applications, valid immigrant and non-immigrant visas, and individuals from the seven countries — Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Sudan, and Yemen — where all immigration was halted.
In a second case filed in Virginia, US District Judge Leonie Brinkema ordered federal officials to provide lawyers access to “all legal permanent residents being detained at Dulles International Airport” and barred officials from deporting any such people for the next seven days.

SImilarly, in a third case out of Washington state, US District Judge Thomas Zilly barred the federal government from deporting two unnamed individuals from the US. Zilly set a hearing for Feb. 3 “to determine whether to lift the stay.”
This is a huge win for the Constitution, democracy and the ACLU, but it is temporary. The stay does not stop the ban for immigrants and refugees who are not en route to America or arrived on U.S. soil, leaving thousands in limbo — including those who have green cards and legal resident status. 
This story is developing...

Latest News

Subscribe for BET Updates

Provide your email address to receive our newsletter.


By clicking Subscribe, you confirm that you have read and agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge our Privacy Policy. You also agree to receive marketing communications, updates, special offers (including partner offers) and other information from BET and the Paramount family of companies. You understand that you can unsubscribe at any time.