Overview

• U.S. District Judge Jamal Whitehead ruled late July 14 that the travel ban cannot be used to block 80 refugees who already passed security checks from entering the United States.
• The decision interprets President Trump’s June proclamation as plainly excluding refugees from its scope, preventing officials from denying them entry on that basis.
• Whitehead ordered the immediate resumption of processing for the 80 “presumptively protected refugees” who were turned away under the ban.
• The judge established a new vetting framework for refugees from the 12 banned countries and others affected by the January suspension of the refugee admissions program.
• Advocacy groups are pursuing class-action status to extend the ruling’s protections to thousands more refugees still stranded in limbo around the world.