Arab civil rights group files lawsuit over Trump travel ban; US diplomats critical of ban
DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) - A civil rights group has sued on behalf of U.S. green-card holders objecting to President Donald Trump’s order temporarily banning refugees and immigrants from seven mostly Muslim countries.
The Arab-American Civil Rights League argues in the suit filed Tuesday in Detroit’s U.S. District Court that the executive action is unconstitutional and targets immigrant communities.
It represents about a half-dozen legal, permanent residents, some of whom have been turned away from U.S.-bound planes.
League Director Rula Aoun says most plaintiffs live in the Detroit area, which has one of the nation’s largest Arab and Muslim communities.
Aoun says green-card holders have a “lawful right to be in the U.S.” but have been detained or denied entry.
Trump says the ban is about safety, not religion. It faces numerous legal challenges.
Also today hundreds of American diplomats have sent a memo to the State Department’s leadership, criticizing President Donald Trump’s temporary travel ban on citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries.
It’s believed to be one of the most popularly-supported statements of dissent in the department’s history.
A State Department official says the cable was received today, a day after White House spokesman Sean Spicer suggested that those who disagreed with Trump’s new policy should resign.
The official didn’t have an exact number of signatures, but said more than 800 had indicated they would sign after drafts of the cable circulated over the weekend.
The document argues that the executive order Trump signed last week runs counter to American values and will fuel anti-American sentiment around the world.
Dissent channel cables are a mechanism for U.S. diplomats to register disagreement internally about U.S. policies.