A U.S. federal judge has ordered the administration of former President Donald Trump to admit approximately 12,000 refugees into the country, marking a significant defeat for the government’s efforts to severely limit refugee admissions under an earlier executive order.
The ruling, issued Monday by U.S. District Judge Jamal Whitehead, clarified the scope of a prior appeals court decision that allowed the Trump administration to suspend the refugee program — but required it to honor travel plans for individuals already granted refugee status.
At a hearing last week, the Trump administration argued it was only obligated to admit 160 refugees scheduled to arrive within two weeks of the controversial January executive order. But Judge Whitehead rejected that argument, calling it “interpretive jiggerypokery of the highest order.”
“It requires not just reading between the lines,” Whitehead wrote, “but hallucinating new text that simply is not there.” He further stated that if the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals had meant to reduce the protected group from 12,000 to 160, “it would have done so explicitly.”
Whitehead had initially blocked Trump’s order in February, ruling it likely violated the 1980 Refugee Act, although his ruling was partially overturned by the Ninth Circuit the following month. Monday’s decision pushes back against the administration’s narrow interpretation of the appellate ruling.
The lawsuit was brought by religious and humanitarian organizations including HIAS, Church World Service, and Lutheran Community Services Northwest, along with several affected individuals. They said many refugees had sold all possessions in preparation for travel, only to be stranded in uncertainty.
The refugee admissions program had long been a key legal pathway to U.S. citizenship and had been expanded under President Joe Biden to include those displaced by climate change. In contrast, Trump’s presidency was characterized by aggressive immigration restrictions, deportations, and inflammatory rhetoric.
