Wednesday, February 8, 2017

Trump’s Visa Freeze Stands on Solid Legal Ground

The Massachusetts judge who dissolved a restraining order against it got it right.
Reading through the dozen-plus complaints filed so far against the Trump visa freeze reminds one of the lawyers in ancient Greece who would parade the wife and children of the accused before the judge and jury to emotionally dissuade them from a conviction. First among those here to carry on that tradition is probably Washington, the only state to file a complaint so far and the only complainant to obtain a temporary restraining order (TRO) that applies nationwide. According to state attorney general Bob Ferguson, the state must “protect . . . its residents, its employers, and its educational institutions” against the president, whose order is “separating” families, “harming” residents, and “undermining” the entire state in its interest to remain “a welcoming place for immigrants and refugees.”
The Attorney General Bob Ferguson Behind The 
Resistance To Trump's Travel Ban
The parade of horribles continues. Ferguson goes on to single out the “injuries” caused by the potential loss of H-1B visas to Washington-based tech behemoths Microsoft, Amazon, and Expedia. As immigration-control advocates know well, the sentimental exploitation employed by “immigration rights” activists has always been used to legitimize the cheap-labor lobby. That marriage of convenience is on full display in Ferguson’s complaint.
The already controversial federal judge who granted the nationwide TRO, James Robart of the state’s western district, made what’s perhaps first-of-its-kind in U.S. jurisprudence by granting the state legal standing via the parens patriae (parent of the nation) doctrine. Although individual states can obtain parens standing to vindicate certain “state sovereign” interests, such as the protection of their citizens’ economic well-being, it’s rare, and it’s likely never been applied in an area like immigration, which is uniquely under the federal government’s purview.
Read the rest of Dale Wilcox's op-ed HERE.

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