Supreme Court Allows Partial Enforcement of Travel Ban
The U.S. Supreme Court has allowed the Trump administration to partially enforce its travel ban for citizens from six mostly Muslim countries and suspension of refugee resettlement.
The Supreme Court ruled on Monday that Trump’s March executive order could be reinstated until the court hears the case in October, but that it could not be applied to people who have a “bona fide” connection with a person or organization in the U.S.
The order barred citizens from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from traveling to the U.S. for 90 days and also suspended the U.S. refugee resettlement program for 120 days.
Shortly after, the order was put on hold by lower federal courts, and the administration appealed to the Supreme Court.
The newly reinstated partial ban is unlikely to be applied to people with relatives, school places or employment in the U.S. Yet what constitutes a “bona fide” relationship is likely to be contested, including by advocates of refugee resettlement.
The Supreme Court did not specify if being a client of U.S.-based refugee resettlement agencies counts as a “bona fide” connection.
In his partial dissenting opinion, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas argued that the ban should have been fully reinstated and warned that the caveat of U.S. connections “will invite a flood of litigation.”
Amnesty International warned the modified ban will bring renewed “chaos” at airports and “tear families apart,” while Omar Jadwat from the American Civil Liberties Union argued the ruling “should really allow for only the narrowest implementation of any part of the ban.”
Number of Refugee Boats to Greece Rises
More than 400 people arrived on the Greek islands after taking boats from Turkey over the weekend, the largest daily arrivals in two months.
The increase could be due to warmer weather or diminishing enforcement on the coast of Turkey, which has long claimed that the E.U. is not holding up its side of the deal agreed in March 2016 to restrict crossings.
The latest Greek police figures showed that some 9,548 people are waiting for their asylum applications to be processed Aegean islands of Lesbos, Chios and Samos – an increase from 8,892 migrants in May.
The number of people fleeing Turkey to the shores of Europe had declined after the E.U.-Turkey deal.
China Pledges More Aid to Help Other Countries Host Refugees
China said it will increase financial support for refugees and countries hosting them.
Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi told reporters on a visit to Beirut that China would increase financial assistance to Lebanon, stressing that “we must first and foremost accelerate the political settlement of the Syria conflict.”
“Refugees are not migrants. As the situation improves in Syria, it is natural that the refugees will begin to return to their country,” he said.
Critics and supporters said Wang’s remarks demonstrate China’s implicit refusal to directly resettle refugees in the country.
“China has been playing an increasingly active role in the Syrian conflict, but I don’t think China is considering providing shelter to people fleeing Syria or other war-torn Middle East nations,” former Chinese ambassador to Iran, Hua Liming, told the South China Morning Post.
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