Dive Brief:
- Judge James Robart of Seattle’s U.S. District Court temporarily halted President Donald Trump’s Jan. 27 executive order restricting immigrants from seven nations on Feb. 3, reports SHRM. Foreign nationals from Somalia, Iran, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Sudan and Libya can enter the U.S. in the meantime.
- Robart’s injunction took immediate effect nationwide. The Trump administration requested that the injunction be lifted, but the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco denied the request and will rule on the case later in the week, says SHRM. From there, the case goes to the U.S. Supreme Court.
- The injunction prohibits federal agencies from enforcing the executive order in the interim. And Customs and Border Protection agents must allow foreign nationals with visas and green cards entry into the U.S. as they were prior to the president's decision.
Dive Insight:
For HR, one of the main challenges was identifying which workers were affected by the ban and, as SHRM indicates, how to handle business interruptions.
As this order continues to play out, HR is left with potentially updating the status of thousands of workers as the case moves up the chain. Notably, the Supreme Court is effectively knotted with four liberal leaning and four conservative-minded judges. If they vote as expected, the 9th circuit court of appeals ruling would stand.
The immediate task at hand for HR is to open lines of communication for immigrant workers as well as establish a plan of action that would allow for an orderly and speedy adherence to the final ruling. People traveling to the U.S. have already been detained and interrogated in several cases. HR might want to warn foreign nationals that the ban could be reinstated and further jeopardize their employment status.
