“The order issued by US District Court Judge Edward M. Chen that bars the Trump Administration from expelling 300,000 immigrants from Haiti, Sudan, Nicaragua, and El Salvador is a very welcome development. The immigrants were admitted over a period of more than two decades based on adverse conditions in their home countries and had been allowed to stay in the US with temporary protected status until the Trump Administration embarked on an effort to get rid of them.

“Judge Chen upheld NCJW’s view — and that of many others — that the Trump policy was based on bias and implemented in violation of the Administrative Procedures Act. The determination to expel the immigrants from the US because of supposed improvements in conditions in their home countries was exposed as completely specious in a series of government emails revealed during the hearing. The government had clearly first determined to oust the immigrants and then sought the evidence needed to justify such a decision.

“The restraining order will stay in effect pending a full trial on the merits, but by issuing such an order the judge has made clear he does not believe the government will prevail in that trial. The case illustrated once again the vital importance of federal judges, even at the district court level, and the need to become fully engaged in the process of their selection by the president and confirmation by the US Senate.”