The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today welcomed a federal appeals court ruling that the Trump administration cannot ban grandparents and other family members of citizens and legal residents as well as certain refugees from six Muslim-majority nations from coming to the United States.
Today’s decision by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upholds a July ruling that significantly decreased the number of people barred from the country under President Trump’s “Muslim ban” executive orders.
In its ruling, the court said the Trump administration failed to show how grandparents and other relatives are not close family relatives under the criteria set out by the U.S. Supreme Court in a June ruling. The ruling also made clear that foreign nationals that have reached the later stages of the refugee process and received a “sponsorship assurance” from a US-based organization have the type of bona fide relationship with the United States which shields persons from the Muslim Ban’s implementation.
The Supreme Court will hear arguments about the legality of the Muslim ban on Oct. 10.
SEE: Appeals Court Rejects Family Limits in Trump Travel Ban
“Today’s ruling once again indicates the weakness of the administration’s case in implementing the Muslim ban,” said CAIR National Senior Litigation Attorney Gadeir Abbas. “We look forward to the U.S. Supreme Court throwing out the Muslim ban executive order in its entirety.”
In August, CAIR filed an amicus (“friend of the court”) brief on behalf of four American Muslims opposing the Trump administration’s “Muslim Ban 3.0” guidelines on what constitutes a close family relationship as a violation of the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling and in support of the State of Hawaii’s successful challenge to those guidelines.
SEE: CAIR Files Amicus Brief in the Ninth Circuit on Behalf of Four American Muslims Impacted by Muslim Ban 3.0
Earlier this year, the Supreme Court forbade the Trump administration from applying its Muslim Ban against any person with a “close familial relationship” to an individual inside the United States.
And just last month, a district court judge in Hawaii rejected the Trump Administration’s attempt to exclude grandparents, cousins, and others from this definition, finding the Administration’s constrained definition to be the “antithesis of common sense.” The judge, for instance, referred to grandparents as “the epitome of close family members.”
CAIR is America’s largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.