At airports in big cities across Texas and around the country, part of the president's new travel ban is taking effect, in the wake of this week's Supreme Court ruling that some aspects of the ban could be enforced. The court will fully consider the ban, and the lower court rulings that blocked portions of it, when its new term begins in October. For now, travelers from the six predominantly Muslim countries included in the ban will be barred from the U.S. unless they can show a "bona fide relationship" with someone in this country. That includes relatives and employers, and other unspecified connections to the U.S.
Chris Hamilton, a partner at Standly Hamilton, LLP and president of Lawyers for America Foundation, is among the attorneys who met inbound passengers at the Dallas-Fort Worth airport in January who were subject to the original ban, in an attempt to secure their rights. He says dozens of people with visas, legal permanent resident status, and foreign nationals who had served in the U.S. military were stuck in the airport at that time.
"The revised version of the travel ban, as narrowed by the Supreme Court, is, while in my view still discriminatory in nature, is procedurally completely different," Hamilton says. "This time, the revised order only impacts people who do not have visas."
Hamilton says that decisions about who can come to the U.S. will be based on whether the traveler has documents that give them a right to be in the country.
"Assuming that the rules are followed, and that the Supreme Court's ruling is followed, there should not be people detained inside U.S. airports under this order," he says.
The Lawyers for America Foundation has set up a telephone hotline for people who have a loved-one from one of the travel ban countries detained in the DFW airport for more than three hours. The number is 469-249-3065.
Written by Shelly Brisbin.
