By Shauneen Miranda | AZ Mirror
Only refugees who were closest to arriving in the United States are covered by an order the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued last month partially blocking the Trump administration from suspending the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, the court clarified in a filing Monday.
A three-judge panel wrote that its earlier order only pertains to people whom immigration officials had conditionally approved as refugees before Jan. 20 and had arranged travel to the United States.
The March order from the Ninth Circuit panel upheld part of a Washington state federal judge’s order blocking President Donald Trump’s day-one executive order suspending the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program.
The Trump administration sought clarification on the appeals court’s March order. The higher court had denied part of the administration’s request to halt the lower court’s earlier preliminary injunction.
