A refugee family has arrived in the U.S. as part of a federal court order requiring the Trump administration to restart the resettlement program in cities across the U.S. – including in Arizona.
President Donald Trump shut down refugee admissions in one of his first executive actions. Aid groups filed a lawsuit to restart the program and included a group of refugees like Plaintiff Pacito — the pseudonym for a 22-year-old refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo who had his Jan. 22 travel plans canceled as a result of the freeze.
Mevlude Akay Alp is an attorneys with IRAP, one of the groups filing suit. She says Pacito and his family arrived in the U.S. on Friday, but many more still remain in limbo.
“There are still over 100 refugees stuck outside the United States who the court ordered to be processed and admitted immediately back in May,” she said.
Akay Alp says the court ordered the government to process the small group of refugees right away. But, in June, a travel ban enacted by the Trump administration outright blocked U.S. entry for nationals from a dozen countries — government attorneys now argue refugees could be included in that restriction.
The Pacito family’s arrival is good news, but more steps are still needed.
Thousands of other refugees are still awaiting processing under a different court order granted to plaintiffs in February. A federal judge is expected to soon rule on whether the government is upholding those court orders and how the other court battles will impact the case.
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In a press release this week, city officials say they’re closely monitoring the situation of other cities — where the Trump administration has sent National Guard troops without requests from local or state governments.
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Indigenous peoples across the U.S. have been swept up in the Trump administration’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants and an Arizona tribe is taking steps to safeguard its membership.
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Democratic members of Congress could be back in court this month after they say the Trump administration is again denying them immediate access to immigration detention facilities.
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Republican lawmakers hosting a pro-ICE press conference were driven indoors as they were met with protesters at the state Capitol on Monday morning.
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Last Friday, The Show invited Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Arizona) to stop by the studio and offer his perspective on some of the year’s major storylines thus far.