Lawsuit filed in Columbia district court over proclamation signed by President Trump in June
Jul 22, 2020
Washington D.C. [US], July 22 : Several individuals have filed a lawsuit in US district court of Columbia over a proclamation signed by US President Donald Trump in June.
"On June 22, 2020, President Trump signed the "June Proclamation," which with the stroke of a pen, eliminates for the rest of the year--and for an indefinite period going forward--a vast portion of the country's immigration system," the lawsuit read.
It said the White House itself estimates that the President's action will block approximately 525,000 work-authorized individuals from coming to the United States by the end of the year.
The Proclamation, the lawsuit said is part of a series of measures intended to achieve the goal of substantially shutting down congressionally authorized immigration to the United States.
The lawsuit said the "proclamation extended and expanded an earlier April 22, 2020 ban on the entry of immigrants (the "April Proclamation," and together with the June Proclamation, "the Proclamations")."
"The June Proclamation's entry bans, however, rest on a fatal, flawed assumption: that there is a fixed number of jobs in this country for which competition is a zero-sum game, such that the admission of immigrants and foreign-born workers necessarily "poses a risk of displacing and disadvantaging United States workers during the current recovery," the lawsuit read.
Terming the June's Proclamation's entry restrictions as "irrational", the lawsuit said it undermined its asserted goals of protecting U.S. workers and aiding the country's economic recovery during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.
The relief sought by the plaintiff included -- a preliminary and permanent injunction enjoining Defendants, their officials, agents, employees, assigns, and all persons acting in concert or participating with them from implementing or enforcing any part of the Proclamations so as to delay processing visas in a timely manner, deny or refuse visas, and/or deny or refuse entry into the country to any otherwise eligible foreign national.
The plaintiffs also sought a declaration pursuant to 28 U.S.C. SS 2201 that the Proclamations are unlawful and are set aside and an order pursuant to 5 U.S.C. SS 706 holding that the agency defendants' implementation of the Proclamation is unlawful and is set aside.
