Attorney General Xavier Becerra, 15 State Attorneys General File Amicus Brief Opposing President Donald Trump’s Unconstitutional Travel Ban

SACRAMENTO - Attorney General Xavier Becerra today filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in State of Washington v. Trump, a case opposing the Trump Administration’s unconstitutional and un-American travel ban.

California was joined in filing the amicus brief by Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, Vermont, and the District of Columbia.

Attorney General Becerra released the following statement after the filing:

“On behalf of the nearly 40 million people of California, I stand shoulder-to-shoulder with attorneys general in Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Virginia, Vermont, and the District of Columbia, in filing an amicus brief in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to preserve the suspension of the Trump Administration's travel ban.

The Administration's reckless dismissal of the Constitution threatens to rip apart California families, risks their economic well-being and defies centuries of our American tradition.

The brief I joined tells the appeals court that immigrants are the life-blood of our nation who work hard to build our country, especially in California. Our universities, medical institutions, businesses, and our tax base are all harmed by President Donald Trump’s unconstitutional and un-American order.  

Here are examples of how states and California would be harmed if the ban were implemented, as detailed in our brief:

• Medical school programs would "risk having insufficient medical residents to meet staffing needs." (p. 5)
• Medical residents would be "unable to renew or extend their nonimmigrant visas" and schools would be left "with unfilled positions in their years-long programs for training physicians; and staffing gaps will open up at hospitals." (p. 8)
• The process of admitting students to state college and universities would be disrupted.

• "The University of California’s ten campuses have almost 500 affected graduate students and 40 affected undergraduates. . . the California State University System has more than 1,300 students from the affected countries with immigrant status and more than 250 students on student visas” (pp. 5-6)

At the California Department of Justice, our Civil Rights and Government Law sections and our Solicitor General’s office worked day and night to make this filing happen.

We in California will continue to coordinate with like-minded states in a concerted effort to fight the travel ban that denies the rights of law-abiding people to travel freely here and abroad.  And I will do everything possible as Attorney General to make sure that the executive order by the Trump administration does not see the light of day.” 

A copy of the brief is attached to the electronic version of this release at oag.ca.gov/news.