Federal Court halts Immigration Ban Executive Order

This afternoon a Federal District Court in Washington State entered a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO), enjoining aspects of the Immigration Ban. A copy of the order is available here: WA AG TRO (1). Last Friday’s hearing before Judge Robart may be viewed here on the Court’s website (video of the oral ruling is below). The Seattle Time is issuing frequent updates here.

Update (February 5, 2017): the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has rejected the federal government’s request to institute the ban. As of today, the lower court’s order will remain in effect until further briefing at the 9th circuit. 

And here is our quick summary of what has happened:

Judge Robart’s oral ruling on the TRO.

Advisory update (Feb. 4, 2017 – 4:00 PST).

The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) has issued the following update to its members:

DOS [Dept. of State]: DOS has confirmed that assuming there are no other issues in the case, provisionally revoked visas have been reversed and are once again valid for travel.

CBP [Customs and Border Protection]: All CBP Field Offices have been instructed to immediately resume inspection of travelers under standard policies and procedures. All airlines and terminal operators have been notified to permit boarding of all passengers without regard to nationality.

AILA has also confirmed with CBP that individuals who arrived last weekend and had their visas physically cancelled as a result of the EO will not need to reapply for a new visa and absent any other admissibility issues will receive an I-193 waiver (Application for Waiver of Passport and/or Visa) upon arrival to the U.S. For those traveling by air, airlines have been instructed to contact CBP to receive authorization to permit boarding.