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| Justice department lawyers instructed not to defend Trump migration order | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The acting US attorney general Sally Yates has instructed Justice Department lawyers not to defend President Donald Trump’s executive order banning travel for people from seven Muslim-majority countries. | |
| Yates, who was appointed by Barack Obama, is serving as the acting head of the Justice Department until Jeff Sessions’ likely confirmation. Her directive will stay in place until the Senate confirms Sessions, who was nominated by Donald Trump. | |
| “I am responsible for ensuring that the positions we take in court remain consistent with this institution’s solemn obligation to always seek justice and stand for what is right,” Yates wrote in a letter to Justice Department lawyers, seen by the Guardian. “At present, I am not convinced that the defense of the executive order is consistent with these responsibilities nor am I convinced that the executive order is lawful.” | |
| Her decision is the latest show of dissent from a government agency at odds with Trump’s executive order. Earlier on Monday, hundreds of US diplomats were reported to have signed a memo fiercely dissenting from Trump’s travel ban. | Her decision is the latest show of dissent from a government agency at odds with Trump’s executive order. Earlier on Monday, hundreds of US diplomats were reported to have signed a memo fiercely dissenting from Trump’s travel ban. |
| Signed on Friday, the executive order denies refugees, immigrants and travelers from certain Muslim-majority countries entry to the United States. | |
| Trump’s unprecedented action indefinitely closes US borders to refugees fleeing the humanitarian crisis in war-torn Syria and imposes a de facto ban on people traveling to the US from parts of the Middle East and Africa by prioritizing refugee claims “on the basis of religious-based persecution”. | |
| Yates’ decision comes as Reuters reported that the US government had granted waivers to allow 872 refugees into the country this week, despite the ban implemented on Friday evening. | |
| More details soon... | More details soon... |