HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH) — The latest court setback for President Donald Trump‘s latest Executive Order is being celebrated here in Connecticut as the nation’s system of ‘checks and balances’ working. Judges in Hawaii and Maryland blocked the order that would ban citizens of Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for 90 days and all refugees for 120.
Senator Richard Blumenthal was joined today by the Civil Liberties Union, refugees living here in Connecticut and representatives of the Muslim community.
“They are constitutionally defective and morally destructive and gravely unwise,” said Blumenthal in describing the what the two judges had decided.
While President Trump says the latest rulings against his latest Executive Order travel ban is judicial overreach, Senator Blumenthal says the court decisions are very clear.
“There is no showing of a national security interest and the motive and purpose is one of religious discrimination,” said Blumenthal.
And Blumenthal says the judges in both the first and the most recent rulings, make it clear that Trump’s own words during the campaign about banning Muslims and words of those in his administration, make clear their intent adding, “They are plainly and simply a Muslim ban.”
Mohamad Chaghlil, a Syrian refugee says he went through two years of vetting before coming to New Haven and that the Executive Orders are causing fear that his 72-year-old mother in Jordan will not be able to join him.
“Refugees know that fear is what makes refugees in the first place. Fear will not make America safe or great,” said Chaghlil.
“The fear that we feel as Muslim Americans is that our children are being stigmatized here in the United States simply for being Muslims,” said Farhan Memon of the Connecticut Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
“The only way to really fix this Muslim ban is to not have a Muslim ban and again the courts have made that clear. Donald Trump has said that this is overreach by the courts and it’s not. This is the way our checks and balances work,” said Attorney David McGuire of the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut.
Senator Blumenthal also says that he’s planning to question Judge Neil Gorsuch on this issue on Monday when the judge comes before the Senate Judiciary Committee for questioning about is nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court by President Trump. If he is confirmed, Judge Gorsuch could end up ruling on one of these Executive Orders.
