The Trump administration has been forced to back down from the presidential order selectively restricting entry into United States.
This is setting up a potential confrontation between the executive and the judiciary.
It is also pitting liberal, immigrant-welcoming states against a federal government accused of shutting doors.
A Federal District Judge in Washington state in the Pacific Northwest matched similar rulings in New York, California, and Massachusetts (all liberal, Democrat-leaning states) while temporarily blocking President Trump's executive order from being enforced nationwide.
The ruling immediately re-opened US doors to travelers from seven Muslim-majority countries.
These were barred by the Trump executive order.
The government complied with the court ruling for now, communicating to airlines that they could board passengers with valid travel documents, even as the President himself railed against it.
The State Department too announced it was reversing the cancellations of visas for nearly 60,000 travellers from seven majority-Muslim countries.
These travellers had their visas "provisionally revoked" to comply with Trump's order blocking them from travelling to the United States.
The Washington court ruling came from Judge James Robart, a Bush administration appointee, after the state had challenged the executive order.
It was arguing it was separating families, damaging the States' economies, and undermining "states' sovereign interest in remaining a welcoming place for immigrants and refugees."
States which have won injunction against the Presidential order are all typically:- Better-educated,
- Higher-income,
- More open immigrants, and
- Have a more diverse population.
Meanwhile, a legislation has been introduced in the US House of Representatives.
This among other things calls for more than doubling the minimum salary of H1B visa holders to $130,000, making it difficult for firms to use the programme to replace American employees with foreign workers, including from India.
The High-Skilled Integrity and Fairness Act of 2017 introduced by California Congressman Zoe Lofgren prioritises market-based allocation of visas to those companies willing to pay 200% of a wage calculated by survey.
This eliminates the category of lowest pay. It also raises the salary level at which H1B dependent employer are exempt from non-displacement and recruitment attestation requirements to greater than $130,000.
