Immigrations News
President Trump’s Travel Ban Executive Order
President Trump issued a travel ban executive order on January 27th, 2017. If you or your family members are from the designated countries subject to the travel ban it is important to keep up on the latest news regarding President Trump’s executive order. Here is a summary of the major events that have transpired since President Trump’s first executive order was issued:
- (1) January 27th, 2017
- President Trump signs executive order banning entry for a period of 90 days for citizens who are from the following countries: (1) Iraq, (2) Iran, (3) Syria, (4) Libya, (5) Somalia, (6) Sudan, and (7) Yemen.
- This executive order indefinitely stopped Syrian refugees from entering the United States.
- (2) January 28th, 2017
- A federal judge in New York temporarily blocked part of the executive order.
- (3) January 29th, 2017
- A federal judge in Massachusetts also issued a temporary restraining order halting the government from being allowed to “detain or remove” lawful permanent residents (green card holders) who are nationals of the seven countries subject to President Trump’s order.
- (4) February 2nd, 2017
- President Trump revises the ban and allows lawful permanent residents (green card holders) from the seven countries to take part in the Global Entry Program.
- (5) February 3rd, 2017
- US District Court Judge James Robart blocked the travel ban nationwide.
- (6) February 7th, 2017
- Arguments were presented to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals regarding whether to lift the nationwide block on the travel ban.
- (7) February 9th, 2017
- The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against reinstating the travel ban.
- The Trump Administrative said it would immediately appeal the decision to the Supreme Court.
- (8) March 6th, 2017
- President Trump issues a new travel ban which excludes Iraq from the list.
- The new travel ban still banned citizens from (1) Iran, (2) Libya, (3) Somalia, (4) Sudan, (5) Syria, and (6) Yemen from entering the United States for 90 days and refugees for 120 days.
- (9) March 7th, 2017
- Hawaii files the first lawsuit against the new travel ban and requests a temporary restraining order to block the new executive order from being implemented.
- (10) March 15th, 2017
- US District Court Judge Derrick Watson in Hawaii blocked President Trump’s new travel ban and applied the temporary restraining order nationwide.
- (11) March 16th, 2017
- US District Judge Theodore Chuang in Maryland specifically blocked the 90-day travel ban for citizens of the six Muslim majority countries.
- (12) March 29th, 2017
- US District Court Judge Derrick Watson grants a request to continue to block the travel ban.
- (13) March 30th, 2017
- The Trump Administration appeals to the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals challenging the ruling against the travel ban.
- (14) May 25th, 2017
- The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Virginia blocked the travel ban from being implemented.
- (15) June 26th, 2017
- Supreme Court allows for a limited version of President Trump’s travel ban to continue.
- (16) June 29th, 2017
- President Trump’s second version of the travel ban goes into effect.
- (17) July 13th, 2017
- US District Court Judge Derrick Watson, in Hawaii, ruled that a “bona fide relationship” should be expanded to include grandparents and other relatives.
- (18) July 19th, 2017
- The Supreme Court temporarily allows for the Trump’s administration’s travel ban to keep a strict enforcement on its ban of refugees and allows the “bona fide relationship” exemption to be kept in place.
- (19) September 7th, 2017
- The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that refugees working with a resettlement agency would be considered to have established an eligible “bona fide relationship” with a contact in the United States.
- (20) September 12th, 2017
- The Supreme Court blocks a ruling that said a resettlement agency counts as a “bona fide relationship.”
- (21) September 24th, 2017
- President Trump signs his third revised travel ban which includes citizens from (1) Chad, (2) Iran, (3) Libya, (4) North Korea, (5) Somalia, (6) Syria, (7) Yemen, and (8) Venezuela.
- This ban was set to go into effect on October 18th, 2017.
- (22) October 5th, 2017
- The Trump Administration asked the Supreme Court to dismiss the travel ban case because the issue is now moot.
- (23) October 17th, 2017
- US District Court Judge Derrick Watson temporarily blocks the travel ban that is supposed to go into effect on October 18th, 2017.
- (24) November 13th, 2017
- The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit granted the Administration’s emergency request to allow part of its latest travel ban to go into effect while the appeal is pending.
- The Court of Appeals decided to keep the lower court’s order in place, exempting foreign nationals who have a “bona fide relationship” with a close family or an entity in the United States.
- (25) December 6th, 2017
- Th U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit is scheduled to hear oral arguments.
President Trump Ends the DACA Program and Calls on Congress to Act
On June 15, 2012, the Obama Administration created the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program after several years of Congress’ failed attempts to pass the DREAM Act. President Obama created this program through his executive authority, which meant it could be taken away at any time without Congress’ input.
The DACA program protected nearly 800,000 young undocumented immigrants from deportation and granted them work authorization for a period of two years, subject to renewal. To be eligible for DACA, an applicant needed to show that he or she arrived in the United States prior to turning sixteen-years-old (“16”), resided in the United States since June 2007, graduated from high school, obtained GED, or was currently in school, and had not committed any serious crimes.
On September 5th, 2017, the Trump Administration announced it would be ending the DACA program effective as of March 5, 2018, and gave Congress six months to act. President Trump’s decision to rescind the DACA program has triggered the following consequences for undocumented immigrants who have been approved or could have been approved under the DACA program:
- (1) If you have never applied to the DACA program, you may not apply at this time because no new applications will be accepted. However, if you submitted your initial or renewal DACA application prior to September 5, 2017, your application will be accepted and reviewed case-by-case.
- (2) If your current DACA and work permit status will expire between September 5th, 2017 and (or on) March 5, 2018, you must have submitted your DACA renewal application by the October 5th, 2017 deadline. No new DACA renewal application will be accepted at this time.
- (3) If you have not yet applied for advance parole to travel temporarily abroad, you may not apply for advance parole under the DACA program as no new applications will be accepted after September 5th, 2017.
President Trump has stated that if Congress does not pass legislation by March of 2018, he will revisit the issue. We will have to stay tuned.
I. Temporary Protected Status (TPS)
Temporary Protected Status (TPS) is a form of temporary immigration relief that allows foreigners to live and work in the United States. Congress enacted this program in 1990 with the intent to protect foreigners, especially Central Americans who were fleeing civil war, natural disasters, or catastrophes.
The countries currently designated for TPS include: (1) El Salvador, (2) Haiti, (3) Honduras, (4) Nicaragua, (5) Nepal, (6) Somalia, (7) South Sudan, (8) Sudan, (9) Syria, and (10) Yemen.
Recent announcements have been made to terminate the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designation for the following countries:
- Haiti On November 20, 2017, Elaine Duke, the Acting Security of Homeland Security, announced her decision to terminate the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designation for Haiti. This means that Haitians will no longer be able to benefit from the TPS program and will be expected to leave the United States by July 2019. Haiti was added to the TPS designated countries list after the earthquake that ravaged their country in 2010. The Haitian government has requested to have the Trump Administration to extend the protected status.
- Nicaragua On November 6, 2017, Elaine Duke, the Acting Security of Homeland Security, announced her decision to terminate the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designation for Nicaragua. This means that Nicaraguans will no longer be able to benefit from the TPS program and will be expected to leave the United States by January 2019. Nicaragua was added to the TPS designated countries list after the extreme devastation that was caused by Hurricane Mitch in 1991. The Nicaraguan government did not make any request to extend TPS status.
- Honduras The Acting Secretary, Elaine Duke, has not decided at this time whether to terminate the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designation for Honduras. Acting Secretary Duke concluded that additional time is necessary to obtain and access supplemental information regarding the country conditions in Honduras on the ground compared to pre-Hurricane Mitch. Hence, the current TPS designation for Honduras has been automatically extended through July 5, 2018.