Tough Road For Legal Challenges To Trump’s Immigration Order

At least nine lawsuits have been filed against President Donald Trump’s executive order on immigration and refugees since it went into effect last week. But those suits – which argue, among other things, that the order favors some religions over Islam in violation of the First Amendment – have an uphill battle, the Wall Street Journal reports. They will need to challenge the concept of plenary power, a legal concept that gives the federal government enormous sway over immigration laws. Trump’s executive order suspends the U.S. refugee program for four months and bans entry into the U.S. for 90 days for people from Iran, Iraq, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. Courts will decide whether the challengers have standing. The suits claim the order, and its execution, violate due-process; others claim it should be struck down on religious freedom grounds, based on public statements Trump has made, as opposed to only the text of the executive order.