The Motion to Intervene, filed on behalf of the United States Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI), requests the court’s permission for USCRI to intervene and voice the substantial adverse effects the government’s interpretation of the district court’s preliminary injunction against the travel ban is having on the operational and economic stability of the agencies in its network. The motion was filed in the travel ban lawsuit brought by the state of Hawaii, which has been to the U.S. Supreme Court twice already.
On June 26, the Supreme Court held that the district court’s preliminary injunction against enforcing Executive Order No. 13780 continues to apply in instances where a foreign national has a “credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States.” The state of Hawaii and co-plaintiff imam Ismail Elshikh took the position that the injunction continued to cover refugees who have ”formal assurance” of resettlement assistance from an agency like USCRI, and the district swiftly confirmed that understanding in an order issued July 13. The government appealed, and on July 19, the Supreme Court stayed that portion of the district court’s order so that the Ninth Circuit can address the issue in the first instance.
USCRI has approximately 3,400 active assurances, potentially half of which are impacted by the government’s interpretation of the injunction order. USCRI, and the dozens of agencies in its network that help advance its mission, invest extensively in their relationships with individuals and families long before they arrive in America, devoting extensive economic and social capital into making advance arrangements to ensure refugees’ needs are met.
“It is vitally important that the court hear how the government’s interpretation of the injunction is directly harming USCRI and other agencies in the United States whose mission is to resettle refugees from countries that are war-torn or devastated by natural disaster,” said Donna Doblick, lead attorney of Reed Smith’s pro bono legal team representing the nonprofit. “The hardships USCRI is suffering from the government’s position are real. If this aspect of the district court’s injunction is reversed, it will decimate the refugee resettlement infrastructure in the United States at a time when global conditions have made these resources more essential than ever.”
USCRI has protected the rights and addressed the needs of vulnerable, uprooted people around the globe for more than 100 years. USCRI establishes relationships with incoming refugees who have been closely vetted, and who have received medical and security clearances pursuant to the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program.
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear argument on the travel ban appeals from decisions in the Ninth and Fourth Circuits in October.
Reed Smith has a storied reputation in the refugee and immigration rights community. In June, the firm received the 2017 Human Rights Practitioner Award from the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) for its longstanding commitment to NIJC and its pro bono contributions to numerous individual NIJC cases, as well as for the firm’s representation in a class action lawsuit that successfully challenged the U.S. government’s immigration detention policies, and its global refugee protection project.
For more information, contact Jamie Moss, newsPRos, 201-493-1027.
About Reed Smith
Reed Smith is a global relationship law firm with more than 1,700 lawyers in 27 offices throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Founded in 1877, the firm represents leading international businesses, from Fortune 100 corporations to mid-market and emerging enterprises. Its lawyers provide litigation and other dispute-resolution services in multi-jurisdictional and other high-stakes matters; deliver regulatory counsel; and execute the full range of strategic domestic and cross-border transactions. Reed Smith is a preeminent advisor to industries including financial services, life sciences, health care, advertising, entertainment and media, shipping and transport, energy and natural resources, real estate, manufacturing and technology, and education. For more information, visit reedsmith.com.
U.S.: Century City, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Princeton, Richmond, San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Tysons, Washington, D.C., Wilmington
Europe: Athens, Frankfurt, London, Munich, Paris
Middle East: Abu Dhabi, Dubai
Asia: Beijing, Hong Kong, Kazakhstan, Shanghai, Singapore
