A.G. SCHNEIDERMAN FILES SUIT AGAINST PRES. TRUMP’S SECOND IMMIGRATION BAN

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New York Joins Western District Of Washington Lawsuit Alongside Washington State, California, Maryland, Massachusetts, And Oregon 

A.G. Schneiderman Also Files 20 Declarations From Major NY Institutions, Localities, Businesses, And Impacted Individuals

A.G. Schneiderman: Pres. Trump’s Second Executive Order Is Just A Muslim Ban By Another Name

Today, New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman formally filed suit against President Trump’s second immigration ban, joining Washington State’s lawsuit in the Western District of Washington. New York joined Washington, California, Maryland, Massachusetts, and Oregon in filing an amended complaint that details the harms the second executive order will cause the States and their residents, institutions, and economies.

Click here to read the amended complaint filed this morning.

Alongside the amended complaint, New York filed 20 declarations from New York institutions, localities, businesses, and organizations, including the State University of New York (SUNY) and City University of New York (CUNY); the cities of Rochester and Ithaca; the Greater New York Hospital Association; the International Institute of Buffalo; tech companies such as Kickstarter, Etsy, and Meetup; and individuals impacted by the second executive order, including scientists from Iran and Yemeni-Americans separated from their families. A list of declarations filed by all states can be viewed here. The New York declarations can be read here.

“As our complaint details, President Trump’s second executive order is just a Muslim Ban by another name, seeking to accomplish the same unlawful and unconstitutional goals of the first ban,” said Attorney General Schneiderman. “The Trump administration’s continued intent to discriminate against Muslims is clear – and it undermines New York’s families, institutions, and economy. I’m proud to join my fellow Attorneys General as we marshal our resources to take on this latest unconstitutional executive order.”

The amended complaint details President Trump’s continued intention to discriminate against Muslims, quoting President Trump himself and a number of his administration’s officials and surrogates. Specifically, it quotes senior policy advisor Stephen Miller’s February 21, 2017 comments that the second executive order would have “mostly minor technical differences” from the first; and press secretary Sean Spicer’s February 27, 2017 comments that “the goal [of the second executive order] is obviously to maintain the way that we did it the first time.”

The complaint makes clear that the second executive order violates the Equal Protection, Establishment, and Procedural Due Process clauses of the Constitution, as well as the Immigration and Nationality Act, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the Administrative Procedure Act, and the Tenth Amendment.

The amended complaint filed today also describes the harms to individual plaintiff states. As detailed, New York has over 4.4 million foreign-born residents, including more than 13,000 who were born in one of the six countries named in President Trump’s second executive order; approximately two percent, or roughly 400,000, of New Yorkers identify as Muslim.

Specifically, the complaint details how the second executive order:

  • undermines New York colleges and universities’ ability to recruit, accept, and retain top international students and scholars from around the world and promote the exchange of ideas across international boundaries. In fact, CUNY enrolls more than 850 students and SUNY approximately 232 students from the affected countries. International students from the six designated countries enrolled in New York institutions are estimated to have contributed $28.8 million to New York’s economy in 2015.
  • harms New York’s health care institutions, which rely on foreign nationals – including from the six designated countries – to provide health care to New Yorkers, train and teach the next generation of New York’s medical professionals, and conduct critical research. The complaint specifically highlights New York’s safety-net hospitals’ reliance on foreign national physicians.
  • hurts New York State’s tourism industry. The second executive order has already had a chilling effect on tourism, with New York City, Ithaca, and other localities expecting a drop in the number of foreign visitors.
  • harms New York businesses, interfering with business travel and undermining companies’ ability to recruit top talent from countries with significant Muslim populations.
  • separates New York residents from their family members in the six designated countries. The complaint highlights two Yemeni-American citizens of the United States who are separated from their spouses and children.
  • harms refugees, including those already residing in New York and those already vetted for resettlement in the United States, and interferes with the ability of refugee organizations in New York State to fulfill their mission. In particular, the second executive order causes New York-based refugees to experience “fear and uncertainty . . . about their legal status, rights, and future in the United States, and thus reintroduces the type of persecutory and government-instilled fear that caused these refugees to flee their countries of origin in the first place.”