Two Michigan civil rights groups say they’re ready pick up a lawsuit filed against President Trump’s first travel ban.
The Michigan ACLU and the Arab-American Civil Rights League sued in federal court to overturn Trump’s first executive order. The groups now say they’ll amend that lawsuit to fight the new order issued Monday.
Trump’s new executive order targets migrants from six majority-Muslim countries, not seven — Iraq is now off the list. It also exempts permanent U.S. residents and people with valid pre-existing visas.
The new order doesn’t apply to some of the plaintiffs from the initial suit. But others, such as a nine-year-old Yemeni boy with a U.S. citizen father, are still affected by the revised ban.
“Despite its cosmetic revisions, this new order is still a Muslim ban, and it is still unconstitutional,” said Michigan ACLU director Kary Moss in a statement. “Further, by halting refugee resettlement, this ban also callously betrays America's long history as a safe haven for those fleeing oppression and seeking freedom."
The groups say they’ll file the amended lawsuit in Detroit federal court in the next ten days. The new ban goes into effect March 16.
Last month, Detroit federal judge Victoria Roberts officially struck down part of the first order that barred some permanent legal residents from returning to the country. By that time, the Trump Administration had already announced it wouldn’t enforce that provision.
The lawsuit itself was put on hold other federal courts struck down the initial travel ban entirely.
