Lawsuit Targets US Government’s Alleged Lack of Orderly Waiver Process Following Trump’s ‘Travel Ban’

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An amended class action complaint has been filed in litigation against several U.S. government departments and individual officials alleging the defendants failed to provide an orderly process for waiver eligibility following the September 2017 presidential proclamation that restricted the entry of immigrants and non-immigrants from six Muslim-majority countries. 

The proclamation declared that waivers may be granted to individuals seeking entry into the country on a case-by-case basis providing they meet the following three criteria, as described by the lawsuit: “(1) denial of entry ‘would cause the foreign national undue hardship’; (2) his or her ‘entry would not pose a threat to the national security or public safety of the United States’; and (3) his or her ‘entry would be in the national interest.’” 

According to the lawsuit, however, the proclamation itself only provided “scant details about the case-by-case waiver process,” and directed federal officials to establish a more specific orderly process, which they have allegedly failed to do. 

“To date, however, no such guidance has been issued or publicly promulgated. The agencies do not appear to have established—and certainly have not provided any meaningful information to the public—about waiver application procedures, how waiver eligibility determinations are made, or whether any recourse exists for persons who are not considered for a waiver in the first instance,” the complaint argues.

Some of the 36 plaintiffs—and thousands of others—allege they were denied the opportunity to apply for waiver grants before even being able to demonstrate that they met the eligibility criteria, the case says. The case further argues that individuals who clearly meet the vague eligibility criteria in place are “routinely being denied waivers without due consideration.” 

The suit seeks to represent two classes: 

• A “family member class” comprised of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents whose family members have been or will be denied meaningful consideration for a waiver or whose applications have been “stalled” 
• A “visa applicant class” comprised of Iranian, Libyan, Somali, Syrian, and Yemeni nationals who have applied for immigrant or non-immigrant visas that have been or will be denied meaningful consideration for a waiver or whose applications have been “stalled”