Immigrants United v. Trump
Donation protected
We are filing a lawsuit against the Trump administration for their reckless implementation of the travel ban. For those who don’t know, here’s a quick summary of what the travel ban is. In 2017, President Trump signed into law an indefinite ban on travel to the United States for people from six Muslim-majority countries. This means that people from those countries have not been allowed to enter the United States, and will not be allowed for the foreseeable future. The law made some room for people to get waivers based on their personal circumstances. For example, a person might get a waiver so that they could be reunited with their spouse or child, or they might get a waiver because they need a medical procedure that only doctors in the United States can perform.
But the administration has not made a real effort to give waivers to deserving people. Every day we hear more stories of people who were denied waivers despite very compelling circumstances. And news recently broke that only two people got waivers in the first month of the ban’s implementation. Out of almost 7,000 applicants—TWO. The government hasn’t provided any procedure or process for applying for waivers. There’s so little transparency that U.S. senators and various national organizations have had to submit multiple requests for information on the waiver process and they have gotten little information in response. So we are bringing a lawsuit to make the Trump administration give people a fair shot.
The flawed waiver process isn’t just preventing foreigners from coming to the United States. It is preventing American families from seeing their relatives. It’s preventing American businesses and universities from prospering. It’s preventing all of us from benefitting from the contributions of people from cultures all around the world. America is a country of immigrants, so why now are we blindly stopping so many ordinary people from sharing in the American dream?
With this money, we are planning on fighting for people like Mania. Mania is an American citizen who helped her father apply for a visitor’s visa. Her brother had just died of cancer, leaving her father isolated and alone in the house in the Middle East in which her brother died. They just wanted to be together to grieve. His case was put in “processing,” and after 14 months of waiting, he died without a visa. One week later, to add insult to injury, Mania’s father was denied a waiver. Nobody has been able to tell Mania why her father, a 78-year-old man, could not come to the United States to be with his daughter, his last remaining relative. Mania’s case is unfortunately not unusual. Thousands of people’s lives have been destroyed by the government’s arbitrary denials.
Here’s what your money will go to: court costs, legal fees, and all of the logistical expenses that quickly add up while we bring this enormous case against the government. Every little bit helps. Thank you for playing an essential part in righting this wrong.
But the administration has not made a real effort to give waivers to deserving people. Every day we hear more stories of people who were denied waivers despite very compelling circumstances. And news recently broke that only two people got waivers in the first month of the ban’s implementation. Out of almost 7,000 applicants—TWO. The government hasn’t provided any procedure or process for applying for waivers. There’s so little transparency that U.S. senators and various national organizations have had to submit multiple requests for information on the waiver process and they have gotten little information in response. So we are bringing a lawsuit to make the Trump administration give people a fair shot.
The flawed waiver process isn’t just preventing foreigners from coming to the United States. It is preventing American families from seeing their relatives. It’s preventing American businesses and universities from prospering. It’s preventing all of us from benefitting from the contributions of people from cultures all around the world. America is a country of immigrants, so why now are we blindly stopping so many ordinary people from sharing in the American dream?
With this money, we are planning on fighting for people like Mania. Mania is an American citizen who helped her father apply for a visitor’s visa. Her brother had just died of cancer, leaving her father isolated and alone in the house in the Middle East in which her brother died. They just wanted to be together to grieve. His case was put in “processing,” and after 14 months of waiting, he died without a visa. One week later, to add insult to injury, Mania’s father was denied a waiver. Nobody has been able to tell Mania why her father, a 78-year-old man, could not come to the United States to be with his daughter, his last remaining relative. Mania’s case is unfortunately not unusual. Thousands of people’s lives have been destroyed by the government’s arbitrary denials.
Here’s what your money will go to: court costs, legal fees, and all of the logistical expenses that quickly add up while we bring this enormous case against the government. Every little bit helps. Thank you for playing an essential part in righting this wrong.
Organizer
Shabnam Lotfi
Organizer
Madison, WI
