Rights groups file lawsuit against April 22 Presidential Executive Order on temporary immigration suspension

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The Justice Action Center, American Immigration Lawyers Association and the Innovation Law Lab have filed a brief in the U.S. District Court of Oregon for a temporary restraining order on President Trump’s April 22, 2020 Executive Order that could affect thousands of Green Card applicants filing from outside the United States.

“As tens of thousands of Americans are dying from COVID-19, President Trump’s ban, which he signed on April 22, is another unlawful attempt to upend the family-based immigration system that is fundamental to our society and shared prosperity,” the press release from the Justice Action Center said.

Immigrants are the “backbone” of the U.S. economy, and many are on the frontlines fighting the coronavirus, the press release noted, adding that immigrants will also be “key to economic recovery.”

“Decades of economic research tell us that having more immigrants actually boosts consumer demand, creates jobs, and provides an increasingly precious source of national economic strength,” the press release said.

They also noted that the proclamation could also change the visa classification for a teenager nearing their twenty-first birthday who will age out of their eligibility for a visa while the ban is in effect — “setting them back years, or even decades, in the immigration process.”

In November last year, these same civil rights organizations filed the Doe v. Trump class action suit in Portland, Oregon, to stop implementation of the requirement that immigrants had to prove they could pay for their health insurance in order to be able to enter the U.S.. That proclamation was blocked by the U.S. District Court in Portland, and the case is now in the hands of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C.

The April 25 motion is a new filing in the Doe v. Trump case.

“If granted, the federal court’s emergency order would protect families who have the right to come to the U.S. on a visa they have otherwise already qualified for, even if they are not a healthcare worker, the spouse of a U.S. citizen, or meet the other narrow exceptions of the immigration ban,” the press release said.