FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 19, 2017
Contact: James Hallinan (505) 660-2216
Eighteen attorneys general file amicus brief opposing the ban, citing harm to states’ residents, institutions and economies
Santa Fe, NM – Attorney General Hector Balderas, part of a coalition of 18 attorneys general, filed a new amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court opposing President Trump’s travel ban. The brief was filed in related cases Trump v. IRAP (No. 16-1436) and Trump v. Hawaii (No. 16-1540), ahead of arguments scheduled for October 10th. In both cases, the district courts entered nationwide preliminary injunctions prohibiting among other things enforcement of President Trump’s 90-day ban on the entry to the U.S. of nationals from six overwhelmingly Muslim countries, the suspension of the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, and the reduction of the program’s refugee cap. Both the Fourth Circuit and the Ninth Circuit affirmed the injunctions.
“In New Mexico we are focused on our national security, and have a long history of protecting our nation through our national laboratories, White Sands Missile Range and our military bases, but we do not condone discrimination against race or religion,” said Attorney General Hector Balderas. “As the chief law enforcement office of a minority-majority state, I will continue to fight against President Trump’s illegal travel ban that not only violates our nation’s principles of religious freedom, but threatens real-world harm to New Mexico’s national labs, healthcare system, universities, tourism industry, and fragile economy.”
Click here to read the brief, which was signed by New Mexico, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and the District of Columbia.
“Amici have a strong interest in respondents’ challenges to the Order, and to its travel ban in particular, which has already caused – and absent the continuation of the injunctions, will continue to cause – substantial harm to our universities, hospitals, businesses, communities, and residents,” the brief reads.
“While the amici States differ in many ways, all welcome and benefit from immigration, tourism, and international travel by students, academics, skilled professionals, and businesspeople. Notwithstanding the injunctions now in place, the travel ban has inflicted economic damage on the States themselves through lost tuition and increased administrative costs at the States’ public universities and colleges, as well as diminished tax revenues. The ban has also disrupted the provision of medical care at the States’ hospitals and harmed our science, technology, health care, finance, and tourism industries by inhibiting the free exchange of information, ideas, and talent between the six designated countries and the amici States. In addition, the ban has hindered the States from effectuating our own constitutional and statutory policies of religious tolerance and nondiscrimination.”
Click here to read the brief – https://ag.ny.gov/sites/default/files/16-1436_16-1540_bsac_state_of_new_york.pdf
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