A federal judge in Seattle issued an order Thursday revising the number of refugees he ordered the government to admit from 12,000 to 160 after an order from a higher court.
Judge Jamal Whitehead of the U.S. District Court of the Western District of Washington ruled earlier this month that 12,000 refugees, who had “arranged and confirmable” plans prior to President Donald Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order suspending the national refugee program, must be processed.
Whitehead rescinded the previous order on Thursday and issued a new ruling after the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit clarified that the refugees must be admitted on a case-by-case basis. He ruled that 160 refugees met all of these criteria under the higher court’s clarification and could be processed.
“Thus, the Court will apply a rebuttable presumption that these 160 refugees qualify as ‘Injunction-Protected Refugees’ under the Ninth Circuit’s clarification orders,” Whitehead ruled. “The Government must process, admit, and provide statutorily mandated resettlement support services to these Injunction Protected Refugees immediately.”
In the order, the judge also said he would appoint a special master to look at the other refugees’ cases to examine if they qualify to be processed.
“For all other refugee applicants who meet the three-part test but whose travel was scheduled more than two weeks after January 20, 2025, a case-by-case determination is now required,” the order reads. “To efficiently conduct these individualized assessments, the Court believes that appointing a Special Master is warranted.”
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Whitehead had blocked Trump’s executive order ending the refugee program, but the appeals court largely overturned Whitehead’s ruling, allowing the administration to stop new refugee approvals.
The higher court did allow refugees who had already been conditionally accepted to be processed and allowed to come to the United States.