December 21, 2018
A lawsuit accusing the Trump Administration of denying nearly all visa applicants from countries under President Trump’s travel ban will go to trial despite Trump Administration efforts to kill it, a United States judge has ruled.
District Judge James Donato heard arguments on the administration’s request that he dismiss the lawsuit. The case was “not going away at this stage,” he said at the close of the hearing December 13.
The plaintiffs said the administration is not honoring a waiver provision in the President’s ban on travelers from five countries — Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen.
The 36 plaintiffs in the lawsuit include people who have had waiver applications denied or stalled despite chronic medical conditions, prolonged family separations, or significant business interests, according to their attorneys.
They estimate tens of thousands of people have been affected by what they said are blanket denials of visa applications.
At the hearing, attorney for the plaintiffs Sirine Shebaya, a Lebanese-American, said officials considering the waiver requests are not following guidelines and are routinely denying people the opportunity to show they qualify for a visa.
Justice Department attorney August Flentje said consular officials are working “tirelessly” on visa applications using guidelines from the State Department. He said decisions on visas are beyond judicial review, meaning a judge has no authority to review rejections.
Judge Donato did not dispute that. He said he would not consider any specific waiver rejection, but more broadly would rule on whether officials were considering applications in “good faith” and not stonewalling.