ANN ARBOR, MI - Ann Arbor is joining forces with other cities across the United States to fight President Donald Trump's immigrant and refugee travel ban.



The City Council voted 11-0 Tuesday night, Sept. 5, to authorize the city attorney to have the city listed as a supporting municipality in an amicus brief being filed with the U.S. Supreme Court.



Amicus briefs are legal documents filed in court by entities that are not parties to the litigation but have a strong interest in the case and want to offer supporting information or arguments.



In this case, Ann Arbor is not authoring the brief, but joining a coalition of cities signing on to one.



Ann Arbor officials said the city was contacted by Chicago's law department about participating in an amicus brief opposing the travel ban Trump tried to enact via executive order earlier this year.



Chicago's corporation counsel is the lead attorney responsible for drafting the brief and it's been reviewed by Ann Arbor's city attorney.

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Other cities expected to participate in the amicus brief include Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, Boston, San Francisco, Seattle, Baltimore, Evanston, Honolulu, Iowa City, Minneapolis, Madison, Portland, San Jose, Tucson, Austin and others, along with the U.S. Conference of Mayors and the National League of Cities.



In addition, Ann Arbor officials say, Chicago's corporation counsel has indicated a group of states, a group of former national security officials, a group of Democratic lawmakers, and at least one interfaith coalition of religious organizations likely will file separate amicus briefs.



At the center of the case is the executive order Trump issued on March 6, titled "Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States." It replaced a Jan. 27 order with the same name that also faced legal challenges.



Commonly referred to as a travel ban, Trump's order aimed to temporarily ban entry into the U.S. by nationals of six majority-Muslim countries -- Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen -- subject to categorical exceptions and case-by-case waivers. It also aimed to suspend travel of refugees into the country.



"Recent history shows that some of those who have entered the United States through our immigration system have proved to be threats to our national security," Trump stated in his order.



"Since 2001, hundreds of persons born abroad have been convicted of terrorism-related crimes in the United States. They have included not just persons who came here legally on visas but also individuals who first entered the country as refugees."



The resolution approved by the City Council cites the case of State of Hawaii and Ismail Elshikh. v. Donald J. Trump, et al.



Hawaii and Elshikh, the imam of the Muslim Association of Hawaii, sought a nationwide temporary restraining order prohibiting enforcement of Trump's travel ban in U.S. District Court and it was granted. The District Court of Hawaii on March 29 converted the temporary restraining order into a preliminary injunction.



Hawaii-based U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson concluded anti-Muslim sentiment motivated the ban.



The federal defendants appealed, with further proceedings before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which in June refused to lift the hold on the travel ban, ruling it lacked justification and violated a federal immigration law that prohibits discrimination based on nationality.



On the campaign trail, Trump called for "a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what the hell is going on."



The Trump administration last month urged the Supreme Court to end the months-long legal battle over the immigrant and refugee travel ban by ruling it's all about national security, not religion.



Ann Arbor is now taking a formal position in the Supreme Court in defense of the preliminary injunction against the travel ban.



This isn't the first time Ann Arbor has weighed in on a Supreme Court case. The City Council also authorized having Ann Arbor listed as a supporting municipality in an amicus brief in support of gay marriage when the issue was before the court two years ago.



Tuesday night's resolution was co-sponsored by Mayor Christopher Taylor and Council Members Chip Smith, Graydon Krapohl, Chuck Warpehoski, Jack Eaton and Julie Grand.

Also voting for it were Zachary Ackerman, Jason Frenzel, Sumi Kailasapathy, Jane Lumm and Kirk Westphal.



"The opportunity to participate in this amicus brief, I think, is a chance to bring the First Amendment challenges forward about the president's policy," said Warpehoski, D-5th Ward, referring to arguments over whether the executive order violates the establishment clause in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.



In addition to Trump's policy being arguably unconstitutional, Warpehoski said, it's also detrimental to the economic health and vibrancy of communities such as Ann Arbor that depend on being part of a strong international community, with university students, researchers and others coming here from many countries.



"I'm grateful that we have this opportunity to use the -- hopefully see the -- checks-and-balances system within our country to overturn it," Warpehoski said before voting for the resolution.



Eaton, D-4th Ward, said the city won't incur any costs associated with filing the brief and he doesn't think there will be any harmful consequences.



"As vengeful as the current administration seems to be, us expressing an opinion to the Supreme Court about the legality of the travel ban will not come back and threaten any federal funding or have any other significant consequence," he said.



He agreed allowing people to come here from other countries is a matter that's particularly important in a college town.



"This is particularly important to a town like Ann Arbor that is the home of a world-class university where staff and students come from all around the world," he said. "And we want our residents in this town to feel comfortable coming and going from anywhere in the world. And having a threat such as this travel ban really does significant harm to the people who come to our town and expect us to be welcoming and expect to be able to come and go from their home countries.



"So I'm really happy that we're doing this and I think that this is really a no-lose action on our part."



Grand, D-3rd Ward, who works as a pre-health and general academic advisor at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, said last week she had the privilege of getting to orient international students from all around the world. She said they were some of the kindest and most intelligent students with whom she's worked.



"It takes a lot of bravery, I think, to uproot yourself and come halfway around the world for your education, and even more so to uproot yourself permanently to come to this country" she said.



"So on days like today, especially in light of the very disappointing news from the White House about DACA, I think it's all the more important that we sign on to an amicus brief like this."



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