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Federal Judge Temporarily Halts Trump’s Controversial Refugee Travel Ban Nationwide

In response, US Customs and Border Protection began restoring visas, including for refugees.

A federal judge in Washington temporarily halted President Trump's ban on travel from seven majority-Muslim countries late Friday, stopping enforcement of the ban nationwide and opening up further questions about the deeply controversial executive order.

In response to the ruling by U.S. District Judge James Robart in Seattle, Washington, Customs and Border Protection began restoring visas, including for refugees, and told airlines it was "back to business as usual," CNN reported. In a statement, White House press secretary Sean Spicer called Judge Robart's ruling "outrageous," vowed to fight the ruling, and said the President's order "was lawful and appropriate." The statement was then quickly updated to remove the word outrageous.

President Trump's order, issued last week, included a 90-day of ban of entry to U.S. from seven Muslim majority countries — Syria, Iran, Somalia, Yemen, Iraq, Sudan, and Libya. It also issued a 120-day ban on all refugees entering the U.S. and halted admission of Syrian refugees indefinitely.

In one week, the ban has created legal and logistical chaos, lead to mass demonstrations at airports, brought on a wave of lawsuits, drew international condemnation, created worries that it might help America's enemies, and was met with resistance or outright protest from the business and tech communities. The ban has also raised thorny questions about American values, torn families apart, and resulted in the government revoking somewhere between 60,000 and 100,000 visas.

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