The most recent travel ban (commonly called Travel Ban 3.0), which was to go into effect today (October 18, 2017) has been enjoined by two federal courts, one in Hawaii and one in Maryland.
The Hawaii court blocked implementation for all countries but North Korea and Venezuela.
The Maryland court blocked implementation for persons who have a “credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States.”
This includes visa applications by persons with immediate family members, such as parents, children or siblings, grandparents, grandchildren, brothers- and sisters-in-law, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, and cousins in the United States.
It also includes persons with relationships with a U.S. entity that is “formal, documented, and formed in the ordinary course,” rather than for the purpose of evading the ban. This could include an employee, invited speakers for a conference, member of a membership organization who joined before the ban was announced, or a refugee being resettled by an aide organization in the U.S.
Like the first, this second order continues to ban entries from North Korea and Venezuela.
These injunctions are temporary until a hearing can be held.
For now, the travel ban only applies to nationals of North Korea (who are all banned unless they can use an exception listed in the Presidential Proclamation that created the ban or can obtain a waiver) and those persons from Venezuela who have been banned (which includes mainly government officials, who also could be within an exception or obtain a waiver).
If one court’s order is lifted, the other court’s order would still apply until lifted. Stay tuned.
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