The federal government on Thursday reached a settlement agreement with the plaintiffs in a lawsuit brought over President Donald Trump’s initial travel ban, which ensures that travelers who had valid visas and were barred entry to the United States under the initial executive order can now reapply for visas to enter the U.S.
“Although the government dragged its feet for far too long, it has finally agreed to do the right thing and provide those excluded under the first Muslim ban with proper notice of their right to come to the United States. While this closes one chapter in our challenge to Trump’s efforts to institute his unconstitutional ban, we continue our legal fight against Muslim ban 2.0 at the Supreme Court in October,” Lee Gelernt, the deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, said in a statement announcing the settlement.
In the brief period between the initial, chaotic implementation of Trump’s first order barring travelers from certain majority Muslim countries from entering the U.S. and a judge’s order blocking the ban, several people with valid visas were barred from entering the country. Two of those people, Iraqi nationals Hameed Khalid Darweesh and Haider Sameer Abdulkhaleq Alshawi, filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration when they were detained at JFK airport.
Under the settlement announced Thursday, the federal government agreed to contact those barred entry in the first 24 hours of the ban to inform them of their right to reapply for visas and to give those people a list of organizations that provide pro bono legal aid, per the ACLU.
