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Journalism of Courage
US President Donald Trump on Tuesday tweeted, “SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS TRUMP TRAVEL BAN. Wow!” In a first substantive ruling on a Trump administrative policy, the Supreme Court observed that the President has the power to regulate immigration and rejected the notion that the policy discriminated against Muslims. While Trump has called the ruling a “tremendous victory for the American people and the Constitution”, petitioners are already reportedly looking for an alternative legal method to challenge the ban. The ban has been in effect since last December.
One of the first major decisions taken by Donald Trump after he took office last January was to disallow travelers from certain countries to visit the US. His policy was revised three times before the Supreme Court allowed his final executive order to go into effect last December despite the case pending in court. Since his presidential campaign, Trump has sought restrictions in immigrants entering the country in order to make it ‘safer’. In fact, ahead of the 2016 US presidential election, Trump had vowed to keep Muslims from entering the US.
This also explains Trump’s move to build a wall along the US-Mexico border and his recent immigration policy. Trump’s travel ban is also in tandem with his ‘America First’ policy which favours Americans over people of other nationalities.
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In a 5-4 decision, the US Supreme Court found Trump within the law to regulate immigration. Among those in the majority was Trump nominee Neil Gorsuch.
The judges in the minority, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Justices Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan, found that the case was “motivated by anti-Muslim animus”. Justice Sotomayor observed, “History will not look kindly on the court’s misguided decision today, nor should it.” She also added that her colleagues in the majority “ignored facts, misconstruing our legal precedent and turned a blind eye to the pain and suffering the Proclamation inflicts upon countless families and individuals, many of whom are United States citizens.”
The travel ban extends to five Muslim-majority countries — Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen. There are also restrictions on travelers from North Korea and Venezuela, but this has not been challenged in the court. Iraq, Chad and Sudan were initially included in the ban but were later dropped from the list of countries. These countries were chosen by the administration as they had a “significant terrorist presence within their territory”.
Travelers from these countries are allowed to seek permission to visit the US on a case-by-case basis. The country has said it will grant exemptions for certain travelers who want to, for instance, enter the country for medical treatment, visit a family member or for business.
However, according to The Associated Press, the administration has granted permission to less than 2 per cent of applicants since the policy came into effect last December. Of the 33,176 people who applied for visas, only 579 applicants were given clearance. Further, 1,147 people received visas through other means such as diplomatic or pre-existing refugee status. Nearly 5,000 were found “ineligible” for unspecified reasons unrelated to the travel ban.
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