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Human Rights First, No One Left Behind, and Vietnam Veterans of America As Amici Curiae in Support of Respondents

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Human Rights First, No One Left Behind, and Vietnam Veterans of America As Amici Curiae in Support of Respondents Nos. 16-1436, 16-1540 IN THE Supreme Court of the United States DONALD J. TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, ET AL., Petitioners, v. INTERNATIONAL REFUGEE ASSISTANCE PROJECT, ET AL., Respondents. ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH AND NINTH CIRCUITS BRIEF OF HUMAN RIGHTS FIRST, NO ONE LEFT BEHIND, AND VIETNAM VETERANS OF AMERICA AS AMICI CURIAE IN SUPPORT OF RESPONDENTS G. Eric Brunstad, Jr. Counsel of Record DECHERT LLP 90 State House Square Hartford, Connecticut 06103 (860) 524-3999 [email protected] Counsel for Amici Curiae i TABLE OF CONTENTS Page INTEREST OF THE AMICI CURIAE ................ 1 STATEMENT ....................................................... 3 I. The First Executive Order ...................... 3 II. The Second Executive Order ................... 4 III. The IRAP Litigation ................................ 5 IV. The Hawaii Litigation ............................. 6 SUMMARY OF THE ARGUMENT .................... 8 ARGUMENT ........................................................ 9 I. In Enacting the Travel Ban, the United States Ignores Vetting Pro- tections Already in Place, Jeopard- izes the Stability of U.S. Allies, and Breaks U.S. Promises to Iraqi Refu- gees. .......................................................... 9 A. Refugees Are Already Rigor- ously Vetted. .................................... 9 B. Vetted Refugees Must Now Be Absorbed by Countries Like Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan, Contributing to Instability Contrary to U.S. Security In- terests. ........................................... 23 C. Banning and Delaying Reset- tlement of Military Interpret- ers and Other U.S.-Affiliated Iraqis Breaks Faith with Those Who Supported the United States. ............................... 32 ii TABLE OF CONTENTS (continued) Page D. Banning the Resettlement of Refugees Makes It More Diffi- cult for the United States to Recruit Foreign Allies, Under- mines Ongoing and Future U.S. Military Operations, and Endangers U.S. Troops. ................ 36 II. Whatever Its Intention, the Travel Ban is Perceived Abroad as a “Mus- lim Ban,” Reinforcing the Percep- tion that the United States Is at War with Islam, Further Harming Our Interests. ......................................... 38 A. The Ban Disproportionately Affects Muslims............................. 39 B. Good Relations within Muslim Communities Are Critical to U.S. Security Interests, and Are Jeopardized by the Travel Ban. ................................................ 41 C. The Travel Ban Fuels Anti- U.S. Terrorist Propaganda. .......... 45 CONCLUSION ................................................... 51 iii TABLE OF AUTHORITIES Page CASES Hawaii v. Trump, 241 F. Supp. 3d 1119 (D. Haw. 2017) ................................................................. 6 Hawaii v. Trump, 859 F.3d 741 (9th Cir. 2017) ............................ 6 Int’l Refugee Assistance Project v. Trump, 241 F. Supp. 3d 539 (D. Md. 2017) .................. 5 Int’l Refugee Assistance Project v. Trump, 857 F.3d 554 (4th Cir. 2017), as amended (May 31, 2017), as amended (June 15, 2017), cert. granted, 137 S. Ct. 2080 (2017). ...................... 6 State v. Trump, No. CV 17-00050 DKW-KSC, 2017 WL 2989048 (D. Haw. July 13, 2017) ................................................................. 7 Trump v. Hawaii, No. 16-1540, 2017 WL 3045234 (U.S. July 19, 2017) .......................................... 8 Trump v. Int'l Refugee Assistance Project, 137 S. Ct. 2080 (2017) ...................................... 7 STATUTES 8 U.S.C. § 1522 .................................................... 11 iv TABLE OF AUTHORITIES (continued) Page 8 U.S.C.A. § 1101(a)(42) ...................................... 12 8 U.S.C.A. § 1158(b)(2)(A)(i)-(vi) ........................ 13 8 U.S.C. § 1522 .................................................... 11 Refugee Crisis in Iraq Act, S. 1651, 110th Cong. (2007) ......................................... 16 Refugee Crisis in Iraq Act of 2007, Pub. Law No. 110-181, 122 Stat. 395 (2008) .......................................... 17, 18, 19 EXECUTIVE MATERIALS Exec. Order No. 13,769, 82 Fed. Reg. 8,977 (Jan. 27, 2017) ................................... 3, 4 Exec. Order No. 13,780, 82 Fed. Reg. 13,209 (Mar. 6, 2017) .................................. 4, 5 OTHER AUTHORITIES Andrew Hosken, Syrian Child Refu- gees ‘Being Exploited in Jordan’, BBC NEWS (Nov. 4, 2015), http://www.bbc.com/ news/world-middle-east-34714021 ................ 31 v TABLE OF AUTHORITIES (continued) Page Bethan McKernan, ISIS Hails Don- ald Trump’s Muslim Immigration Restrictions as a ‘Blessed Ban,’ THE INDEPENDENT (Jan. 30, 2017, 11:40 AM), http://www.independ- ent.co.uk/news/world/middle- east/isis-donald-trump-muslim- ban-immigration-iraq-iran-re- strictions-travel-islamic-state-us- visa-a7552856.html ........................................ 47 Bill Frelick, Syrian Refugee Kids Still Out of School in Turkey, Hu- man Rights Watch (Jan. 23, 2017), https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/0 1/23/syrian-refugee-kids-still-out- school-turkey .................................................. 27 Brookings, Syrian Refuges and the Slow March to ‘Acceptance’ (2017), https://www.brook- ings.edu/blog/future-develop- ment/2017/09/07/syrian-refugees- and-the-slow-march-to-ac- ceptance/ ......................................................... 28 vi TABLE OF AUTHORITIES (continued) Page Corrected Br. of Former National Security Officials as Amici Curiae in Support of Plaintiff-Appellees and Against a Stay Pending Appeal, IRAP v. Trump, No. 8:17- cv-00361-TDC (4th Cir. Apr. 13, 2017), https://cases.justia.com/federal/ap pellate-courts/ca4/17- 1351/126/0.pdf?ts=1494442944. ................................................................... 33, 36 DAILY SABAH, Turkey’s Unemploy- ment Rate Rises to 12.6 Percent in February (May 15, 2017), https:// www.dailysabah.com/econ- omy/2017/05/15/turkeys-unem- ployment-rate-rises-to-126-per- cent-in-february. ............................................. 27 Dan Lamothe, Among Veterans, Raw Responses to Trump's Effort to Block Refugees and Others from Muslim Countries, WASH. POST (Jan 29, 2017), https://www.wash- ingtonpost.com/news/check- point/wp/2017/01/29/among-veter- ans-raw-responses-to-trumps-ef- fort-to-block-refugees-and-others- from-muslim-coun- tries/?utm_term=.0d74b8cb980e ................... 36 vii TABLE OF AUTHORITIES (continued) Page David Brody, Trump Says Perse- cuted Christians Will be Given Priority as Refugees, CBN NEWS, (Jan. 27, 2017), http://www1.cbn.com/thebro- dyfile/archive/2017/01/27/brody- file-exclusive-president-trump- says-persecuted-christians-will- be-given-priority-as-refugees ........................... 4 David Cohen, How Trump Hurts the Spying Business, N.Y. Times (May 16, 2017), http://www.ny- times.com/2017/05/16/opin- ion/how-trump-hurts-the-spying- business.html?_r=0 ........................................ 37 Dexter Filkins, James Mattis, A Warrior in Washington, THE NEW YORKER (May 29, 2017), http://www.newyorker.com/maga- zine/2017/05/29/james-mattis-a- warrior-in-washington ................................... 44 Doris Meissner & James W. Ziglar, Halting Refugee Resettlement Compromises the Security of All, THE HILL (Dec. 3, 2015), http://thehill.com/blogs/congress- blog/foreign-policy/261840-halt- ing-refugee-resettlement-compro- mises-the-security-of. ....................................... 9 viii TABLE OF AUTHORITIES (continued) Page Eliza Mackintosh, Trump Ban Is Boon for ISIS Recruitment, For- mer Jihadists and Experts Say, CNN (Jan. 31, 2017, 10:51 AM), http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/30/po litics/trump-ban-boosts-isis-re- cruitment/index.html ............................... 46, 47 Francis Chan & Trinna Leong, Travel Ban Stirs Unease In Indo- nesia, Malaysia, THE STRAITS TIMES (Feb. 5, 2017, 5:00 AM), http://www.strait- stimes.com/asia/travel-ban-stirs- unease-in-indonesia-malaysia. ...................... 45 Frelick, Bill, “Syrian Refugee Kids Still Out of School in Turkey,” (Jan. 23, 2017), https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/0 1/23/syrian-refugee-kids-still-out- school-turkey .................................................. 27 ix TABLE OF AUTHORITIES (continued) Page Harvard Law School, Fulfilling U.S. Commitment to Refugee Resettle- ment: Protecting Refugees, Pre- serving National Security & Building the U.S. Economy through Refugee Admissions (2017), https://harvardimmigra- tionclinic.files.word- press.com/2017/06/syria-final- draft-v9.pdf ............................................. passim The Heritage Foundation, The U.S. Refugee Admissions Program: A Roadmap for Reform (2017), http://www.heritage.org/sites/de- fault/files/2017-07/BG3212.pdf .... 21, 23, 25, 28 Hollie McKay, U.S.-backed Iraqi Fighters say Trump’s Refugee Ban Feels like ‘Betrayal,’ FOX NEWS (Jan. 27, 2017), http://www.foxnews.com/poli- tics/2017/01/27/u-s-backed-iraqi- fighters-say-trumps-refugee-ban- feels-like-betrayal.html ................................. 36 Human Rights First, Fact Sheet, President Trump’s Executive Or- der on Refugees Harms Our Iraqi Allies (2017), http://www.human- rightsfirst.org/sites/de- fault/files/P2-SIV-Iraqis- Factsheet.pdf .......................................... passim x TABLE OF AUTHORITIES (continued) Page Human Rights First, Living in Limbo: Iraqi Refugees and U.S. Resettlement 29 (Dec. 2010) ........ 16, 17, 20, 34 Human Rights First, The Syrian Ref- ugee Crisis and the Need for U.S. Leadership (Feb. 2016), https://www.human- rightsfirst.org/sites/de- fault/files/HRFSyrianRefCri-
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