US Supreme Court lifts Trump travel ban restriction
US President Donald Trump’s travel ban on several predominantly Muslim countries has had a major restriction lifted by the country’s Supreme Court.
Over 24,000 refugees will now be left with their futures unclear, after the Trump administration challenged the ruling of a lower court which provided exemptions for some people if they received assistance from resettlement organisations.
The highest court in the US decided to uphold the Justice Department challenge, but the decision will be pending a response from the states involved in the lawsuit.
Trump’s travel ban sparked chaos at airports across the US earlier this year after mass confusion over whether travellers from the likes of Iraq and Syria would be allowed to board flights or not.
Several courts had rejected different versions of the ban with judges saying that while Trump has discretion to set immigration policy, it was still subject to assessment in accordance with the US constitution.
Justice Anthony Kennedy signed off on the ruling on Monday, temporarily preventing the exemption from coming into effect.