HIAS Welcomes Ninth Circuit Court Ruling Narrowing Travel Ban Restrictions

SILVER SPRING, Md. -- Today, the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that grandparents, aunts, uncles and other extended family members of refugees would be exempt from the travel ban imposed by President Trump’s executive orders earlier this year. The court ruled in response to an earlier Supreme Court order which failed to clarify the definition of “close familial relationships.”

Critically, the decision also clarified that refugees with assurances from U.S.-based refugee resettlement agencies, such as HIAS, would be exempt from the ban according to the Supreme Court order’s definition of “bona fide relationships” with a U.S. entity.

In response, Mark Hetfield, president and CEO of HIAS, the global Jewish nonprofit that protects refugees, shared the following:

“Once again, the courts have stepped in to protect common sense interpretations of how the United States can and should welcome refugees. HIAS and our supporters in the American Jewish community welcome this ruling and hope that as a country, we can now continue our traditions as a nation of immigrants and refugees.”

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