Settlement allows people denied entry under original travel ban to reapply for visas News
Settlement allows people denied entry under original travel ban to reapply for visas

[JURIST] Individuals blocked from entering the US by President Donald Trump’s original travel ban order can reapply for visas, under the terms of a settlement [text, PDF] reached Thursday. Those who have a right to reapply are to be informed and notified of legal services that can aid them. The two main plaintiffs in this case [ACLU backgrounder], Hameed Khalid Darweesh and Haider Sameer Abdulkhaleq Alshawi, had been detained [complaint, PDF] at JFK airport last January after the first travel ban was ordered. Becca Heller, Director of the International Refugee Assistance Project, welcomed the settlement:

On January 27, Hameed Darweesh and thousands of others attempted to legally enter the United States. They were detained, handcuffed and, in many cases, deported. This settlement forces the government to individually reach out to everyone illegally kept out of the country, and begin to remedy that wrong. But it is only a first step — we continue to fight against the illegal, discriminatory, and un-American provisions of the second Muslim ban.

The lead plaintiff now currently lives in the US with his family.

Earlier this week a three-judge panel questioned [JURIST report] a Justice Department lawyer in a hearing regarding the revised travel ban. In July a judge for the US District Court for the District of Hawaii expanded [JURIST report] the exemptions permitted under the Trump administration’s temporary travel ban on visitors from six predominantly Muslim countries. The US Supreme Court is scheduled to hear further arguments on the matter in October.