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This archival content was originally written for and published on KPCC.org. Keep in mind that links and images may no longer work — and references may be outdated.
New lawsuits challenge how Trump officials are carrying out his travel ban
The U. S. Supreme Court gave the Trump administration the green light in June to block most immigrants and travelers from five Muslim-majority countries. But opponents of the travel ban aren’t deterred, and are challenging how officials are deciding on requests for waivers to the ban.
Two class-action lawsuits filed in recent days allege that travelers from the affected countries are being unfairly denied the waivers, keeping them from entering the United States.
The State Department’s data show that waivers to the ban were being approved earlier this year at a rate of only 2 percent.
"The implementation of these waivers is so willfully inadequate and opaque that to doesn't meet even the most minimum of legal or constitutional requirements to pass muster," said Babak Yousefzadeh with the Iranian American Bar Association.