By Haley Fritz and Till Kaeslin
Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey announced during a press conference Tuesday morning that her office plans to file a lawsuit, challenging President Donald Trump’s executive order on anti-travel bans.
The order, which temporarily banned immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries, “violates federal immigration law,” Healey said during the conference.
“We stand here and with others across this state as a unified Massachusetts community … all working together to reject this discriminatory and dangerous measure,” Healey said during the conference. “It’s this solidarity that makes us strong.”
Representatives from various Massachusetts organizations, including Boston University President Robert Brown, joined Healey to express their concerns regarding the executive order.
Healey said she recently worked with the ACLU to achieve a temporary restraining order on Trump’s ban.
The restraining order was issued by a U.S. federal court in response to two Iranian nationals who were detained at Boston Logan International Airport on Saturday, Healey said.
The detainees were both legal permanent residents of the United States, Healey said, and work in the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth’s College of Engineering.
University of Massachusetts Dartmouth President Marty Meehan said at the press conference that the university has 300 students as well as 166 faculty and staff from the seven countries affected by Trump’s ban.
“It is important as a leader of this institution to speak out and say we will do everything we can to protect our students … and faculty,” Meehan said. “Those students and those faculty members who come to us from other parts of the world are critically important to our mission … This order undermines the mission of the University of Massachusetts.”
Carol Rose, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, said she felt confident the ban would be struck down permanently.
“The lives at stake are not just these people from the seven nations, but all of us,” Rose said during the press conference. “This executive order is illegal, it’s unconstitutional, and it’s unpatriotic … We know that if we fight we can win, and that’s what it takes to ensure freedom for all.”
Michael Sroczynski, vice president of the Massachusetts Health and Hospital Association, said the immigration order conflicted directly with scientific and medical pursuits in the country.
“Healthcare has always been an innovation incubator,” Sroczynski said. “We never know where the cure for cancer or the next lifesaving treatment will come from … We don’t want to limit innovation in the United States, or a healthier future for all of us, by improperly restricting access to anyone who desires to come here to contribute to that vital work.”
