Federal judge orders Trump administration to admit 12,000 refugees

A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to admit about 12,000 refugees into the U.S., after the White House said approved immigrants could be prevented from entering if they didn't arrive by early February.

The Department of Justice had argued that a prior court order meant that only about 160 refugees had to be accepted who would be en route to the U.S. by Feb. 3, according to The Hill newspaper. However, U.S. District Judge Jamal Whitehead in the Western District of Washington, a Biden appointee, disagreed.

“It requires not just reading between the lines, but hallucinating new text that simply is not there,” Whitehead wrote in his ruling on Monday.

The lawsuit was filed by faith-based refugee aid groups in February, following President Trump's executive order that indefinitely suspended the U.S. Refugee Assistance Program (USRAP), which Congress passed in 1980 for people fleeing persecution, wars, or natural disasters in their home countries. USRAP can take years for applicants to receive approval.

The initial lawsuit claimed Trump's executive order was illegal because it ignored Congress. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed, finding that the president has broad authority over who is let into the country. The appeals court ordered the federal government to continue processing refugees who had been previously approved and had “arranged and confirmable travel plans to the United States” by the time Trump issued the executive order.

The DOJ set a two-week deadline from Trump's executive order, which he issued on Jan. 20, for refugees to travel to the U.S. The refugee aid groups argued that arrangements simply had to be made but not immediately underway, with which Whitehead agreed.