FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 16, 2017
Contact: James Hallinan (505) 660-2216
Albuquerque, NM – Today, Attorney General Hector Balderas filed a brief in support of the State of New York’s lawsuit against the Trump Administration’s Executive Order on immigration in the Eastern District of New York. This follows briefs filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit supporting the Washington State lawsuit against the executive order and in the Eastern District of Virginia in support of Virginia’s lawsuit.
“As the chief law enforcement officer of a majority-minority state that welcomes students, scholars, doctors, scientists and other lawful visa-holders from countries affected by this illegal travel ban, I will continue to stand up to President Trump’s illegal order,” said Attorney General Balderas. “In New Mexico, we don’t just tolerate diversity, we celebrate it.
In the brief filed today, Attorney General Balderas and 15 other attorneys general state: “The barred individuals include, among others, persons who have previously been granted valid U.S. visas that otherwise entitle them to work, study, and travel within the amici States. In addition to harming such individuals, the Executive Order also inhibits the free exchange of information, ideas, and talent between the seven designated countries and the amici States.”
Attorney General Balderas and other state attorneys general have been at the forefront of the opposition to President Trump’s order. This amicus brief is joined by attorneys general from California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and the District of Columbia, and follows other legal action by state attorneys general to oppose President Trump’s Executive Order.
The amicus brief highlights that the Executive Order has already caused concrete irreparable harms to the states’ residents, institutions and businesses. Specifically, the states argue that the Executive Order harmed state colleges and universities, creating staffing gaps, precluding students’ attendance, and imposing additional costs and administrative burdens; that it has disrupted staffing and research at state medical institutions; and that it has immediately reduced tax revenues and is harming the economies of the states more broadly.
In the brief the states also urge the court to enter a preliminary injunction, because without continued relief from the Executive Order, the states will see a return of the chaos in airports as experienced the weekend following the issuance of the Executive Order. The states argue that without the extension of the current temporary restraining order, serious harms will continue to fall on the affected individuals who live, work, and study in their states, to their families and communities, and to the institutions and businesses that employ and educate them.
The full amicus brief is available here: http://www.mass.gov/ago/docs/briefs/2017/eo-immigration/ednymultistate-brief.pdf
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