The travelers from the seven predominantly Muslim countries affected by President Donald Trump's immigration ban have begun arriving in the country after the US Department of State has restored the validity of their visas.
This step by the State Department was taken after a federal judge released the decision to temporarily block the enforcement of the executive order nationwide, Times Higher Education reported.
Judge James L. Robart, of the federal district court for the Western District of Washington, made the ruling that bars the government from enforcing the 90 day immigration ban for the citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. It also orders the government to lift the 120 day ban on the entry of refugees and the indefinite suspension of the admission of refugees from Syria.
There were 60,000 foreigners whose visas were cancelled but this executive order by Trump has triggered protests and a lot of legal challenges from around the US, according to Time. A multitude of college students, teachers and researchers were affected and were not allowed to enter the country.
Trump said that the goal was to protect the country from the terrorists and he criticized Robart's ruling and called it "ridiculous".
Meanwhile, the students who have been barred from entering the country began travelling back to their colleges. Trump's immigration ban has been widely criticized and condemned by certain civil rights groups and even university leaders and education groups expressed their protest against the executive order. 48 university presidents signed an open letter, including the leaders o f the Ivy League schools to express their condemning of the entry ban, and labeling it "dimming the lamp of liberty and staining the country's reputation". They said that it undermines values of inclusion and internationalism for preventing the entry of scholars and talented students to their respective schools.
