Lawsuit filed in Federal Court to stop proclamation 10014

[WORRIEDSPOUSE 33]

Thoughts and Prayers with Jim Hacking immigration Attorney. 

Today 5/14 at 1 pm central, I will be arguing the biggest case of my legal career.

On April 22, 2020, President Trump issued Proclamation 10014 which would bar thousands of foreign nationals from getting immigrant visas to the United States.

Federal law passed by Congress and signed by prior Presidents allows foreign nationals in various visa categories to come to the U.S. and obtain lawful permanent residence.

President Trump and Stephen Miller wish to stop legal immigration to the U.S. and this Proclamation seeks to exclude:

Parents of U.S. citizens
Spouses and children of lawful permanent residents
Adult children of U.S. citizens
Brothers and sisters of U.S. citizens
Employment based visa seekers (except those working in health care)
Diversity visa winners

We filed a lawsuit in federal court in Washington DC to try and stop the Proclamation.  We are asking Judge Amit Mehta to halt the ban as it is contrary to the Immigration & Nationality Act.

The hearing is this afternoon.

The government has lots of arguments why we cannot prevail, but we filed a solid brief in response.

If you are so inclined, please send us positive thoughts, prayers and blessings our way this afternoon.

We could really use it.

Thank you.

PS - if you would like to hear the argument (which may be me getting crushed by the judge ), you can listen by calling (877) 848-7030 at 1 pm central, access code 321-8747.

[geowrian 22,337]

Still listening in...

 

The arguments are - honestly - not particularly great. Nothing jumps out as compelling to me. Most of the call is asking about processes, and how visa interviews are suspended already right now.

Ouch...they didn't know the difference between F1 and F2 family preference categories (which likely make up most of the cases actually impacted by this EO at this time).

 

Edit: They need to get the conversation away from Trump v Hawaii fast. That can tank this in itself.

Looks like they are arguing it doesn't apply as that was national security concerns. Good...separate this EO from that matter.

Edited May 14, 2020 by geowrian

[geowrian 22,337]

Call is over.

Looks like they made a decent pivot away from Trump v Hawaii. Not sure if it will work, but they did try.

 

Big issue is standing. They went over that topic several times. The big issue is that since consulates are closed, it raises the question if anybody bringing suit is actually impacted by the EO. Effectively, has anybody actually been refused a visa due to it?

The counterargument refers (primarily) to people who interviewed prior to the consulates stopping interviews. Technically those cases can still proceed, although they did not - as far as I could tell - give an actual case of somebody who would have been issued the visa by now if the EO did not exist.

[delish 29]

Any news on this case?

[Immi_Enthusiast 5]

Thanks so much for this report and for taking the effort to update on the progress of the EO. Will be following along closely to see what is to come of this in the near future.

Thanks again to  WORRIEDSPOUSE and geowrian 🙂

[WORRIEDSPOUSE 33]

On 5/16/2020 at 10:23 PM, delish said:

Any news on this case?

 

Good morning, Bibi,   Last week  our office filed a TRO against President Trump to try to stop his Immigration Ban executive order.   The immigration ban will hurt a lot of immigrants who are trying to come to the U.S. to be reunited with their families, immigrants who are trying to start a new life in the U.S.   So we filed a lawsuit to try to get it stopped.   We had a hearing last Thursday with a federal judge to argue that the ban wasn't legal and shouldn't continue.   And we received a decision.   The judge decided that we did not have a standing, our clients hadn't been harmed yet, and that because the embassies are closed anyway for COVID-19 the executive order hasn't effected our clients directly.   As of now, the ban will continue.   But we aren't giving up.   We are reviewing the response and hope to keep the legal challenge alive.   We will continue to fight for immigrants.   The embassies are still closed, there has been no word on when they will reopen.   But as saddening, disheartening, and frustrating as this is we can't lose hope.   There are elections coming up soon.   There is a light at the end of this.   Until then, we will be working on getting immigration back on track and to get our country back on track.   Don't give up.   We've got to keep fighting.   Best,   Jim   P.S. We are having an Ask Me Anything webinar on Tuesday, May 26th, at 4pm CST. Register here. I'd love to see you there.

[geowrian 22,337]

4 hours ago, WORRIEDSPOUSE said:

The judge decided that we did not have a standing, our clients hadn't been harmed yet, and that because the embassies are closed anyway for COVID-19 the executive order hasn't effected our clients directly.

Yup...that's what I figured the result would be. This challenge was premature.

I'm going to assume the case was decided without prejudice, so a new one can be brought if there is somebody who has standing to do so.