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Last month, President Donald Trump issued a proclamation suspending the entry of immigrants who might become a financial burden to the United States healthcare system if they are allowed to live here on a permanent basis. It does not apply to immigrants who already have permanent resident status or aliens with an immigrant visa issued before the effective date of the proclamation, and it does not affect eligibility for asylum, refugee status, withholding of removal, or protection under the Convention Against Torture.

A civil rights coalition sued, and the U.S. District Court in Portland, Ore., has halted the implementation of the proclamation with a temporary restraining order (TRO).

According to the coalition, it is egregious that Trump is attempting to flout the will of Congress and squeeze through a complete overhaul of the nation's immigration laws without anyone noticing.

But it is ridiculous to say that requiring new immigrants to be able to cover the costs of their own healthcare is a complete overhaul of the nation's immigration laws — or that Trump is flouting the will of Congress here.

Congress wrote the statutory provision that authorizes presidents to issue such proclamations. And the Supreme Court has held that the plain language of that provision grants presidents broad discretion to suspend the entry of aliens into the United States.

The important question is this: What will happen to aliens who are excludable under the proclamation if they enter the United States while the proclamation is enjoined? That’s because the Supreme Court may very well reverse the lower court's TRO as an abuse of discretion, as it did in Trump v. Hawaii, the “Travel Ban” case. The executive order in that case was based on the same statutory authority that this one is based on.

The aliens who enter while the TRO is in effect may ultimately be subject to deportation if the Supreme Court rules as it did in the “Travel Ban” case. The first provision in the Immigration and Nationality Act's (INA) list of deportable alien classes makes aliens deportable if they were inadmissible when they entered the United States.

Read more at https://thehill.com/opinion/immigrat...-despite-court

Published originally on The Hill.

Nolan Rappaport was detailed to the House Judiciary Committee as an executive branch immigration law expert for three years. He subsequently served as an immigration counsel for the Subcommittee on Immigration, Border Security and Claims for four years. Prior to working on the Judiciary Committee, he wrote decisions for the Board of Immigration Appeals for 20 years. Follow him on Twitter @NolanR1 Or at https://nolanrappaport.blogspot.com