Donald Trump

Emanuel, Other US Mayors File Brief Supporting States Challenging Trump's Travel Ban

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel joined three other major U.S. city leaders Tuesday in filing a brief in the federal district court in Seattle challenging President Donald Trump’s travel ban, the city announced in a news release.

Emanuel joined Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and Boston Mayor Martin Walsh in filing an amicus brief supporting the six states that have challenged Trump’s second attempt at restricting travel into the United States from six-majority-Muslim nations.

Trump’s previous order, which created chaos at airports throughout the country, faced multiple legal challenges and was ultimately stifled last month by a federal judge in Washington.

“The revised travel ban is an affront to American values, weakens our national security, and is unconstitutional,” said Emanuel in a statement. “I am pleased that our country’s cities are standing together in defense of our most cherished principles and in opposition to this unlawful executive order. The City of Chicago will fight to ensure that this country remains a welcoming beacon of hope to innocent refugees who seek to escape the life-threatening horrors of war, to asylum seekers, and to hardworking, law-abiding immigrants who seek a better life.”

The brief argues the executive order’s classifications based on religion and natural origin are invalid, “misguided and unconstitutional.”

“The American people can have high confidence that we are identifying ways to improve the vetting process and thus keep terrorists from entering the country,” Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told reporters last week, citing Trump’s authority to make changes to immigration policy.

Trump and other White House officials have repeatedly denied that the executive order is a “Muslim ban.”

The new, narrower order notes that a 90-day ban on people from the affected countries and doesn’t apply to travelers with valid visas or U.S. green cards.

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