Immigration Ordinance trump entered into force on: how was it received?
Last week, the U.S. Supreme court gave Donald Trump a victory by lifting the ban lower Federal courts on the implementation of the presidential decree on the suspension of entry into the United States from Libya, Syria, Iran, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
The decree is designed for 90 days, during which the administration should develop ways for greater scrutiny of visitors from six countries which it considers problematic.
A parallel ban on the entry of refugees generally has 120 days, but to date, the annual quota for the admission of refugees is almost done: from 50 thousand to remain less than a thousand people.
Under Barack Obama, the quota for the admission of refugees was 100 thousand people, but in January, trump has cut it in half.
The decree began to operate Thursday, at 20 o’clock new York time. The fourth terminal of John F. Kennedy airport in advance and took positions mighty handful of activists and liberal lawyers, ready to help the citizens of these six countries, which is deployed at the passport control.
Activists and lawyers held placards and sang songs.
But the mountain gave birth to a mouse: there was no hint of the chaos that reigned in the international U.S. airports in January, when the new government made the first attempt to carry out the decree trump life.
The initial decree was made in haste, poorly conceived and started without preparation. Some passengers learned about it already on Board the airplane or at the border.
The decree did not make exceptions even for holders of green cards — the document that gives the right to permanent residence in the United States. Among the hundreds of foreigners who were not then let into the country or subjected to prolonged interrogation, it was, for example, a few Iraqis who collaborated with the us military.
Airports East coast of America, it was played the harrowing scenes which caused outrage among viewers of television news. However, it lasted long, because liberal Federal judges began one after another to block a presidential decree, and the appellate court supported them.
According to the law, the Executive power of the United States has every right not to admit foreigners if there is reason to believe that they may pose a potential threat to national security. But at the same time the Constitution prohibits discrimination on religious grounds.
Although Muslims directly in the text of the decree has not been mentioned, criticism of the President quotes from campaign speeches trump and his tweets, in which he promised to close the entrance it to the Muslims. Liberal judges found this argument convincing and, in turn, rejected the decree.
Instead just to appeal to the Supreme court, the White house rewrote the Ordinance but a new text was rejected by the courts.
“And ours, and yours”
The administration finally began to seek understanding from the highest court of the United States — and now found it: Supreme court unanimously overturned a ban on the implementation of the presidential decree without even mentioning the arguments of critics about his anti-Muslim orientation.
Win the White house was, however, only partial.
First, the Supreme court stated, that he will make a final decision by decree in October, when it will start a new session.
Second, he made an exception for persons who have a demonstrable connection with natural persons or legal entities in the United States. It’s family ties or proof of admission in an American University or company.
Three conservative members of the court — Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch assigned by the trump — called for the approval of the decree without exemptions.
Thomas — the only African American on the Supreme court — warned that this will entail an avalanche of lawsuits about whether the foreigner is required when in the United States. But six members of the court voted in favor of this exception.
As explained to me 20 years ago the famous new York lawyer, Barry Ivan Slotnick, who defended then Vyacheslav Ivankov, nicknamed the jap, us courts tend to make decisions according to the principle “and hunt with the hounds”. Perhaps the same rule, guided now by the Supreme court, making an exception for foreigners of the six problem countries, with the USA close relatives.
The question of who exactly is included in this category are initially perplexed. The state Department quickly clarified that she includes parents (including adoptive), children, brothers and sisters, sons-in-law and daughters-in-law, but not cousins, grandparents.
“The army of thousands of lawyers”
“To divide families on the basis of these criteria, it’s just heartless,” said Naureen Shah of the international human rights organization Amnesty International.
This time the authorities were well prepared for the entry of the decree. The main thing — the decision on the admission in the United States are accepted now, not at passport control at U.S. airports, and in consulates abroad. So the lawyers came to the fourth terminal of the main new York airport to meet flights from London, Doha, Istanbul and Abu Dhabi, the time wasted.
According to the representative of Amnesty International Dzhasmit Sidhu, of the NGO no information about that after the restoration of the validity of the decree in U.S. airports have been arrested at least one person.
“We have an army of thousands of lawyers, which, if necessary, is ready to return to Kennedy airport,” warned Kamil Meckler of “the new York immigration coalition”.
A few minutes after the decision of the Supreme court of the state of Hawaii asked the local Federal judge to interpret the vague wording of this document.
Supporters of a temporary ban to prove that in the six countries to which it applies, often there is no stable Central government and competent local authorities, so the state Department did not have anyone to check the authenticity of documents and biographical data of their citizens applying for a us visa.
It is unclear, however, whether it is possible to solve this problem within three months.
Opponents of the Ordinance also said that in USA there were no terrorist attacks or attempts, which could prevent trompowsky decree, even if it existed for a long time.
The Washington Post published a list of 24 the most high-profile terrorist attacks and attempted attacks in the United States — from the plans of explosion in the municipal transport, and in August 1997 in new York, was arrested two citizens of Yemen, before the explosions at the finish line of the Boston marathon, perpetrated by the brothers Tsarnaev.
The current decree could theoretically prevent a terrorist attack at the Ohio state University in November last year, where the attacker crashed his car into a crowd of people, and then began to beat them with a knife. The attacker was originally from Somalia and two years before that immigrated to Pakistan.
In March 2006, a similar crime was committed at the University of North Carolina a native of Iran, but he arrived in the U.S. at the age of two.
Critics of the decree say that it is not only discriminare Muslims, but also useless.
His supporters remind of the recent terrorist attacks in Europe and say, better safe than sorry.
Vladimir Kozlovsky
Russian service Bi-bi-si, new York