Attorney General Becerra Continues Fight Against Trump’s Muslim Travel Ban

Friday, August 4, 2017
Contact: (916) 210-6000, agpressoffice@doj.ca.gov

Joins amicus brief opposing Trump Administration’s latest attempt to exclude individuals from Muslim-majority countries

SACRAMENTO – California Attorney General Xavier Becerra yesterday joined a friend-of-the-court brief in the Ninth Circuit opposing the federal government’s latest unlawful attempt to exclude individuals from Muslim-majority countries from the United States.  

The U.S. Supreme Court recently blocked the Trump Administration from applying its Muslim travel ban to anyone with a “close familial relationship” to a person in the United States, pending the Court’s review of the constitutionality of the ban in the fall. In response, the Trump Administration took the position that no grandparents, grandchildren, brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, or first cousins qualify as “close” family.  A federal district court order in Hawai’i blocked the Trump Administration from implementing that narrow interpretation, stating that it “contradicts” the U.S. Supreme Court’s directive and “represents the antithesis of common sense.” The federal government has appealed the district court’s order, and yesterday’s friend-of-the-court brief argues that the order should be affirmed.

“We should not turn away people who want to come to the United States to visit or reunite with a grandparent, an aunt, a brother-in-law, or another close family member, just because they come from a country that is predominantly Muslim,” said Attorney General Becerra. “President Trump’s Muslim travel ban flies in the face of who we are as a country, and I will continue to fight it with my fellow attorneys general.”

The brief joined by Attorney General Becerra today explains that the federal government’s untenable definition of “close family” conflicts with the Supreme Court’s directive and would improperly exclude many foreign nationals who pose no threat to the United States and simply want to visit their family here.

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