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Immigration Law

Refugee ban can’t be enforced against those who received conditional approval, 9th Circuit says

By Debra Cassens Weiss

March 26, 2025, 2:29 pm CDT

A federal appeals court on Tuesday allowed the Trump administration to stop approving new refugees for U.S. admission during a legal challenge but said the government can’t keep out refugees who received conditional approval before the resettlement program was halted Jan. 20.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at San Francisco ruled on the government’s emergency motion in a March 25 order, report the Associated Press, the Washington Post, the New York Times and a March 25 press release.

In a Feb. 25 decision, U.S. District Judge Jamal N. Whitehead of the Western District of Washington had blocked President Donald Trump’s executive order suspending the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program, according to prior coverage by the New York Times. Whitehead said the plaintiffs were likely to succeed in their argument that the order was an “effective nullification of congressional will.”

On Monday evening, Whitehead issued a second preliminary injunction that orders the government to reinstate canceled cooperative agreements with resettlement agencies, according to another March 25 press release.

The legal challenge was filed by the International Refugee Assistance Project on behalf of Church World Service; HIAS, a Jewish resettlement agency; Lutheran Community Services Northwest; and nine people affected by the ban.

“The court affirmed that the government must continue processing and admitting eligible refugees whose lives were upended by President Trump’s refugee ban,” said Melissa Keaney, senior supervising attorney for litigation at the International Refugee Assistance Project, in a press release. “We welcome this continued relief for tens of thousands of refugees who will now have the opportunity to restart their lives in the United States and look forward to arguing this case in full.”

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A federal judge in Seattle slammed the brakes Tuesday on President Donald Trump’s “dismantling” of the U.S. refugee resettlement system, saying his decision to suspend support for 90-day intervals “crossed the line” of separation of powers.

“To be sure, the president has substantial discretion to suspend refugee admissions, but that authority is not limitless,” U.S. District Judge Jamal Whitehead said in court after issuing a preliminary injunction from the bench, according to the Seattle Times. “I cannot ignore Congress’ detailed framework on refugee admissions. The plaintiffs face concrete irreparable harm.”

A coalition of faith organizations, refugees and U.S. citizens whose family members are refugees are suing the Trump administration in the Western District of Washington. They were seeking a temporary restraining order, a preliminary injunction and a permanent injunction over an executive order that the president handed down last month — Executive Order 14163 — which aims to suspend the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) for 90-day intervals “until such time as the further entry into the United States of refugees aligns with the interests of the United States.”