HIAS sues Donald Trump over refugee freeze
The lawsuit is a return to the refugee aid group’s playbook during Trump’s first term
Activists hold a banner during a pro-refugee demonstration organized by HIAS outside the U.S. Capitol, Sept. 14, 2017. (Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images)
(JTA) — HIAS, the Jewish refugee aid and advocacy group, is suing President Donald Trump over his freeze on refugee admissions.
The lawsuit, announced on Monday, is a return to the group’s playbook during Trump’s first term, when HIAS took the Trump administration to court over its 2017 travel ban, temporarily delaying its implementation.
This time, HIAS joined with two other refugree resettlement organizations — Church World Service and Lutheran Community Services Northwest — to challenge a Trump executive order indefinitely suspending refugee resettlement, as well as its freeze on funding for refugees. The suit argues that the executive order illegally violates Congress’ authority to make laws concerning immigration and breaks regulations.
The groups, which assist the government with resettling refugees and have seen their funding for resettlement cut, are joined in the suit by individual refugees who had their resettlement or travel disrupted by the executive order. The suit was filed in federal district court in Seattle by the International Refugee Assistance Project.
“The American Jewish community owes its very existence to those times when the United States opened its doors to refugees fleeing anti-Semitism and persecution,” HIAS President Mark Hetfield said in a statement. “The American Jewish community knows the heart of the refugees, for we were once refugees ourselves. Today, Trump has even slammed the door in the face of Christians, Jews and Baha’i fleeing Iran, as well as refugees from everywhere else.”
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