Article credited to Texas Monthly: http://www.texasmonthly.com
MEANWHILE, IN TEXAS…
Scotus Says
The U.S. Supreme Court allowed President Donald Trump’s revised order to go into effect on Monday, banning residents from eight countries, including six which are majority Muslim, from traveling to the United States. The decision has major implications in Texas, which has the largest Muslim population in the U.S. and is a national leader in refugee resettlement. Rulings by lower courts had restricted Trump’s order, exempting travelers who had grandparents, aunts, uncles, or other “bona fide” relations or connections to institutions in the United States, but in an unsigned opinion Monday, the justices lifted the injunctions, which had been issued by federal judges in Hawaii and Maryland, according to the Washington Post. The justices did not disclose the court’s reasoning in the opinion. People from predominantly Muslim nations Syria, Libya, Iran, Yemen, Chad, and Somalia, as well as North Korea and Venezuela, are now mostly barred from entering the United States. Federal appellate courts could rule soon on the decisions made by the federal judges in Hawaii and Maryland, so the legal battle isn’t over yet, but until then, at least, it appears the travel ban will be in full effect. When the ban first went into effect in January, there was chaos at airports across Texas, where attorneys, protesters, and family members gathered to try to secure the release of people who were detained, including children and the elderly. The ban also tore apart Texas families, stranding spouses and parents overseas while their loved ones were in America. And it could also impact Texas’s oil and medical industries, which are particularly dependent on global fluidity and draw workforce talent from across the world.
