An Update on the Ongoing Controversy Surrounding Trump’s Travel Ban

Ethan Samet, Writer
February 16, 2017

This is the second article in a series covering President Trump’s Travel Ban. To read the first, click the link below:

Trump’s Travel Ban

 

On January 27 of 2017 President Trump instituted executive order 13769 which was aimed at protecting the country from foreign terrorists by suspending travel to our country by nationals from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Sudan, Yemen. In the pursuing days the order was met with significant backlash from multiple communities. Most prominent of which came from the legal community. In the days following the enactment of the order some parties sought to fight it through legal action and our court system. It is through these actions that President Trump and his administration have been once again placed in the center of a political and judicial controversy along with those who initially took action against him.

On January 30, just three days after the order was signed by our president, Mr. Bob Ferguson who is the Attorney General of Washington State along with governor of the state Jay Inslee announced that they would be filing suit against President Trumps order in a state capacity. Within three days of announcing the suit it was filed on the grounds of the order being a form of religious persecution which is illegal to commit against U.S. citizens under our constitution. On February 3, 2017 the court proceedings were held under Judge James L. Robart of The United States District Court of the Western District who ended up ruling in favor of the state of Washington. Following this outcome the Commander-in-Chief immediately sought to appeal the ruling. “A federal appeals panel on Thursday [February 9th] unanimously rejected President Trump’s bid to reinstate his ban on travel into the United States from seven largely Muslim nations” reported the New York Times on that very same day. With these outcomes came also a significant series of reactions from both the President, His Administration, and multiple other parties.

After the outcome of the courts was revealed The President immediately issued a response to the public. Still feeling that his order is necessary in order to protect the American people President Trump took to the press outlets to reassure his constituents of his intentions. On board Air Force One the President stated to reporters “We will win that battle. The unfortunate part is that it takes time statutorily, but we will win that battle.” At this point it is unclear as to how President Trump plans to “win the battle”. As of February 16, 2017 it appears that “The Trump administration will not immediately appeal the decision blocking its travel ban to the Supreme Court” according to news outlet CNN. However appealing to The Supreme Court is not the only option Trump has. It is also a possibility that he and his administration could simply refile the order as a brand new one. This may, in fact, be more likely than appealing to the Supreme Court as it might take less time and President Trump has already stated to reporters on board Air Force One  “We also have a lot of other options, including just filing a brand new order,”. Whatever the case, the fate of executive order 13769 rests now in the hands of our President and the Judiciary System which has, in this instance, has made a very public display of the checks and balances that every president must face.

As of now, February 16, 2017, it has been close to three weeks since the filing by the Trump Administration of executive order 13769 known colloquially as the Trump Travel Ban. It was met with immediate controversy as well as confrontation by multiple parties and has left the public both domestic and abroad with varying opinions. As exemplified by the fact that  “An average of 55 percent of those surveyed for London-based think tank, Chatham House, agreed that immigration from Muslim-majority countries should be halted” according to MSNBC. While Mr. Trump has continued to stress the vitality of this order when it comes to the safety of the American people. It is clear that this order has had a rough career and should it be an indicator to the future of this presidency it will be imperative that the American people stay informed about their government and their leader.

 

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