The Venezuelans left in limbo by new US immigration plan
The United States is making plans to temporarily place immigrants on the U.S. government’s no-fly list if it doesn’t agree to new conditions placed on visas by President Donald Trump.
That could leave up to one million immigrants in the U.S. without passports, green cards, visas or other legal status as they try to make their way to the U.S. to seek asylum.
But the decision on the no-fly list would be up to the Trump administration, which has had a history of making sweeping, political-based decisions that affect millions of people. Last month, the Supreme Court suspended a decision to grant the administration the authority to implement controversial travel restrictions on people from six majority-Muslim countries.
Trump is now proposing to put up to 1 million people who are in the U.S. illegally on a no-fly list.
He says the list would remain valid only for five years and be limited to non-immigrant airline passengers. Trump’s comments on Twitter were published Friday.
Trump, as a candidate, said he would terminate the program and instead allow citizens to use the no-fly list.
U.S. District Judge John Koh in Washington ordered the government to hold a hearing on the proposal on Thursday. He also issued a temporary restraining order halting the use of the no-fly list. However, the order can be suspended, which Trump is also doing.
The government said the order was issued without sufficient cause. In its filing, the government argued that while the temporary restraining order will expire on Friday, the no-fly list is valid for as long as a person is placed on it, and it will be valid through April 6, 2020. The government also argued that the order was not justified in light of other legal authority.
On Monday, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema in Washington issued a similar temporary restraining order, saying the no-fly list was unconstitutionally broad and that the government had not proven that the no-fly list was likely to be necessary to prevent terrorism.
Koh had ordered the government to hold a hearing on
