This evening, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, tonight applauded the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals’ unanimous decision against the Trump administration’s “Muslim Ban 3.0.”
In ruling against the federal government, the court made it clear that the administration’s attempt to inject national origin discrimination into the US immigration system likely violates federal law.
Because the U.S. Supreme Court has allowed the administration to implement Muslim Ban 3.0 while the various legal challenges against it unfold, the Ninth Circuit’s decision will not have any immediate effect on the ability of foreign nationals from the banned countries to obtain a US visa.
The Ninth Circuit expressed alarm at Muslim Ban 3.0, explaining that it “sweeps broader than any past entry suspension and indefinitely nullifies existing immigration law as to multiple countries.” The Court also recognized the human cost of Muslim Ban 3.0, noting that the “rights, duties and relations of countless American citizens and lawful permanent residents whose ability to be reunified with, and receive visits from, their family members” would be inhibited.
“Discrimination has no place in our immigration system, and the Ninth Circuit’s decision today reminds us of this,” said CAIR Senior Litigation Attorney Gadeir Abbas. “This decision is just the latest example of a federal court taking bold action against the Trump administration’s bigotry and lawlessness.”
“Today, The Ninth Circuit once again joined the nation in declaring loudly that the President and his administration are egregiously out of line in attempting to ban the entry of individuals from Muslim-majority countries and run rampant with such obvious and unconstitutional religious bias,” said Ammad Rafiqi, the Civil Rights & Legal Services Coordinator at CAIR’s San Francisco Bay Area office. “This Ban has had a real human cost in terms of separating family members from each other and giving rise to crippling fear, anxiety and distress amongst American Muslims across the country. We will continue to stand firm in the push towards a nation truly welcoming and unwilling to accept bigotry of any kind.”
In November, CAIR-CA along with the Muslim Justice League and Muslim Public Affairs Council filed an amicus brief in the Ninth Circuit in support of Hawaii’s challenge to Muslim Ban 3.0. The brief is cited on page 65 in today’s Circuit Court decision.
In September, CAIR —with the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law and Profeta & Eisenstein—filed an amicus brief with U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of seven American Muslims.
CAIR filed one of the first challenges to the Muslim Ban, Sarsour v. Trump, on January 30th—just days after the Trump Administration issued its first executive order.
CAIR also filed suit in October in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland to challenge Muslim Ban 3.0.
That case, Zakzok v. Trump, which has been consolidated with two other challenges and is currently pending before the Fourth Circuit.
CAIR-CA is also part of the #NoMuslimBanEver campaign, a grassroots awareness and mobilization effort focused on the resistance against the Muslim Ban.