Trump Administration Decides Grandparents Aren't Real Family

If I didn't know better, I'd say the administration enjoys getting sued and losing.

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court lifted the injunction against the Trump Travel Ban as it pertains to people with no connection to the United States. But it kept the injunction in place as it pertains to “foreign nationals who have a credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States.”

What is a “bona fide relationship,” and who gets to decide what one is? Oh, well, I think we all know there will be litigation about that.

The State Department has taken the first stab at defining “relationships” for Muslims living in six countries we apparently don’t like. Given that the government has such a long and successful history of defining what “family” means, what could possibly go wrong?

The ABA Journal breaks it down:

The guidelines define close family as a parent (including an in-law), spouse, child (including an adult child), son- or daughter-in law, and sibling (including a stepsibling or half-sibling).

But close family does not include a grandparent, grandchild, aunt, uncle, niece, nephew, cousin, brother- or sister-in-law, or a fiancé / fianceé.

Hmm… so the president with five kids from three wives understands that half-siblings are “family,” but wants to throw grandma under the bus?

Excluding grand-relations seems especially callous given that the Court ruled that it was probably okay to discriminate against refugees fleeing warzones based on their country of origin. If you are living in America and you want to shelter your aged grandmother who is trying to escape from Syria, the government is saying you do not have a “bona fide relationship” with her?

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If you’re an American citizen and your nephew has been orphaned because America dropped a M.O.A.B on your brother’s head, that nephew is banned from coming to stay with you?

And sure, we’d all like to pretend that our brothers and sisters-in-law are not “family,” but how often does it seem that way at Thanksgiving?

Let’s also mention that leaving out fiancé/fianceés is purposefully cruel. Imagine, you are set to be married, and you are told you can’t travel to meet your beloved and get married, because you’re from a “bad” country. It’s almost cartoonish villainy on the part of America.

Of course, it’s entirely unclear that these restrictions are the restrictions the Court meant to impose when it tried to find a way to save parts of Trump’s discriminatory policies. Somebody is going to show up at JFK today, a government official is going to tell them that they’re not “real family” and try to send them back, and I hope to God that a lawyer can get there to start the litigation process.

It’s always bad when the government defines family. Always.

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When the government defines a business relationship, it’s on more solid ground. The State Department language here isn’t so obviously covered in crap. From the New York Times:

A bona fide relationship with a “U.S. entity,” according to the cable, “must be formal, documented, and formed in the ordinary course, rather than for the purpose of evading the E.O.,” or executive order.

The new guidelines make clear that someone who has accepted a job offer from a company in the United States or an invitation to deliver a lecture at an American university may enter, but that a nonprofit group may not seek out citizens of the affected countries and count them as clients for the purpose of getting around the ban.

“Also, a hotel reservation, whether or not paid, would not constitute a bona fide relationship with an entity in the United States,” the guidelines note.

That makes sense. I mean, of course this president has no qualms about selling people hotel rooms and then refusing to even let those people into the country, but other than that this is a perfectly sensible way to implement your racist restriction on travel. If your buddy from Ireland wants to come and visit, no problem; if your buddy from Libya wants to come visit, he needs to get a job at Google first. Wonderful country we’re running here.

Look, the State Department isn’t entirely dumb; it’s smart business for an American university or an American corporation to sue the government to keep its talent pipeline open. It’s a lot harder for a refugee grandparent to fight the United States in court.

But, that’s why we have lawyers. That’s why we have the ACLU (guilt offset donation button here). That’s why Biglaw firms have pro-bono coordinators.

The Trump administration always generates work for lawyers willing to fight.

US reportedly defines ‘close family’ ties that will exempt immigrants from travel ban [ABA Journal]
Stepsister, Yes; Grandma, No: U.S. Sets Guidelines for Revised Travel Ban [New York Times]


Elie Mystal is an editor of Above the Law and the Legal Editor for More Perfect. He can be reached @ElieNYC on Twitter, or at elie@abovethelaw.com. He will resist.