Donovan is among attorneys general from 15 states and the District of Columbia who signed on to a brief supporting the two states in legal challenges to the Trump order that banned travel to the United States by citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries and halted the intake of refugees.
TJ Donovan. File photo by Morgan True/VTDigger
The U.S. Department of Justice asked an appeals court to stay the lower court’s order Saturday, but was denied. The developments in the courts set off a scramble as the week-old travel restrictions were lifted.
Refugee resettlement in the Chittenden County area is expected to resume this week.
The brief was also signed by New York, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Virginia.
Though the states all vary in demographics, industry and other ways, “all stand to face the concrete, immediate, and irreparable harms” caused by Trump’s order, the brief states.
The brief argues that state colleges and universities stand to be harmed because educational institutions “rely on faculty and students from across the world” for expertise and tuition dollars.
The ban also affects medical facilities, which rely on researchers, medical professionals and faculty for expertise — some of whom come from the countries included in the ban.
The order takes an economic toll on states, the brief argues, because they are seeing a loss of revenue coming in with the halt on students, tourists and business from the countries under the ban.
In New York in 2015, about 1,000 people from the countries affected by the ban were studying on temporary visas. Between tuition and living expenses, those people contributed $30.4 million to the state’s economy, according to the brief.
The states also assert that the ban violates a clause of the First Amendment and impedes on sovereignty of states in enforcing their laws and protecting their residents.
In a statement, Donovan said he is “proud” to support Washington and Minnesota in challenging “this unconstitutional order.”
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