Courtesy of the National Immigration Law Center
On June 26, the U.S. Supreme Court granted the Trump administration’s request that the Court hear oral arguments in two cases springing from the administration’s March 6, 2017, executive order titled “Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States” (also known as Refugee and Muslim Ban 2.0).[1] One of those cases is Trump v. International Refugee Assistance Project, the result of a lawsuit filed by NILC and partners in a Maryland federal district court.[2] The Supreme Court said it will hear the arguments in October of this year.
President Trump’s order, most of whose provisions were blocked by multiple federal court orders immediately after he issued it, bans certain refugees and the nationals of certain Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States. On June 26, the Court also granted, in part, the administration’s request that the federal government be allowed to implement the ban. This means that the government may proceed to enforce some aspects of the ban.
Who is exempt from the ban?
The following refugees and nationals who are the targets of Trump’s Refugee and Muslim Ban 2.0 are exempt from the ban under the Supreme Court’s ruling issued on June 26:
Any person otherwise subject to the ban who can claim a “bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States” may be allowed to enter the U.S. For those claiming a bona fide relationship with a person, it must be “a close familial relationship.”[4] For those claiming a bona fide relationship with an entity, “the relationship must be formal, documented, and formed in the ordinary course, rather than for the purpose of evading EO-2.”[5] The Court provides examples, such as students who have been admitted to a university in the U.S., a worker who has accepted employment from a U.S. company, or a lecturer invited to address a U.S. audience.
If you believe you are exempt from the ban, you should be prepared to show evidence of your “bona fide relationship.”