Judge orders Trump to admit about 12,000 refugees into country

A judge late Monday ordered President Donald Trump's administration to admit about 12,000 refugees to the U.S. The order interprets limits imposed by an appeals court that allowed the administration to suspend the refugee admissions system, but indicated it must take in people already granted refugee status.

The White House argued last week at a hearing that it should only admit 160 refugees scheduled to travel within two weeks of issuing the January executive order suspending the system.

The executive order shutting down the refugee admissions system was blocked in February

It was Judge Jamal Whitehead, a Joe Biden appointee, who rejected that argument by noting that "the government's interpretation is, to put it mildly, an 'interpretive racket' of the highest order."

Whitehead had also blocked Trump's executive order suspending the refugee admissions system in February, finding that it violated the Refugee Act of 1980. However his decision was rejected a month later by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

"If the 9th Circuit wanted to impose a two-week limitation, one that would have reduced the protected population from about 12,000 to 160 individuals, it would have done so explicitly," Whitehead wrote.

Thousands of people stranded after U.S. refugee suspension

The case was raised by the Jewish refugee organization HIAS, the Christian group Church World Service, Lutheran Community Services and several individuals. These bodies indicated in February in their lawsuit that several people who were about to travel after selling their belongings in their countries were left in limbo by Trump's order.

Refugee resettlement is one of the few legal routes to eventually obtaining U.S. citizenship. Former President Joe Biden expanded eligibility requirements for the program to include populations affected by climate change.