A federal judge on Monday ordered the administration of former President Donald Trump to admit approximately 12,000 refugees into the United States, delivering a significant blow to the government’s efforts to overhaul immigration policy.
U.S. District Judge Jamal Whitehead issued the ruling to clarify a prior appellate court decision that allowed the administration to suspend the refugee admissions program but required it to honor travel plans of those already granted refugee status.
The Trump administration had contended it was only obligated to admit 160 refugees who were scheduled to travel within two weeks of the January executive order that froze the admissions process. But Judge Whitehead rejected that interpretation, calling it “interpretive jiggerypokery of the highest order.”
“It requires not just reading between the lines,” Whitehead wrote in his opinion, “but hallucinating new text that simply is not there.”
The ruling revives Judge Whitehead’s earlier decision from February, in which he blocked Trump’s refugee ban on grounds that it likely violated the 1980 Refugee Act. That ruling was temporarily overturned by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in March.
“Had the Ninth Circuit intended to impose a two-week limitation — one that would reduce the protected population from about 12,000 to 160 individuals — it would have done so explicitly,” Whitehead noted. “This Court will not entertain the government’s result-oriented rewriting of a judicial order that clearly says what it says.”
The lawsuit was brought by faith-based organizations including HIAS, Church World Service, Lutheran Community Services Northwest, and several individuals. They argued that many refugees, having sold their possessions and prepared for travel, were left stranded and vulnerable following Trump’s order.
Refugee resettlement has historically been a legal pathway to U.S. citizenship and was expanded under President Joe Biden to include individuals displaced by climate change. Trump, in contrast, made immigration a cornerstone of his political messaging and ramped up deportations, including high-profile removals via military flights.
This latest ruling adds to a series of judicial setbacks for Trump-era immigration policies, some of which continue to face legal challenges.
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