Bart Jansen

USA TODAY

Canada’s largest school district in Toronto is halting future trips to the U.S. for students or staff amid concerns President Trump’s travel ban would apply to them if implemented, the superintendent announced Thursday.

John Malloy, the director of education, said because Trump’s order is currently suspended by federal courts, 24 already approved trips for about 800 students will proceed. But even those visits would be canceled if the ban is reinstated.

“No student or staff trips to the U.S. will be booked until further notice,” Malloy said. “It is my hope that our students, staff and parents will understand and support this difficult decision.”

If the order is reinstated to temporarily prohibit the arrival of citizens from six countries — Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen — Malloy said the school board told him to cancel even approved trips. The Toronto District School Board has 246,000 students in 584 schools.

“We do not make this decision lightly, but given the uncertainty of these new travel restrictions and when they may come into effect, if at all, we strongly believe that our students should not be placed into these situations of potentially being turned away at the border,” Malloy said.

The Toronto school-board’s decision follows an announcement March 15 that the Girl Guides of Canada, a group comparable to the Girl Scouts, was also suspending travel to the U.S.

“Our operational decision to limit U.S. travel at this time was a difficult one to make, but one based solely on ensuring all girls and women in guiding can fully participate in our guiding trips, no matter the destination,” the group said.

Read more:

Canadian schools and Girl Guides nixing trips to U.S.

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Trump initially ordered the travel restriction for 90 days for seven Muslim-majority countries, including Iraq, on Jan. 27, in order to review how visas are approved from countries suspected of harboring terrorists.

After a federal court halted that ban, Trump issued a new order March 6 with the same goal. The second order didn’t include Iraq because administration officials said that country improved its visa processing.

Waivers to the ban are possible for travelers. But Toronto schools expressed concern that students who are citizens of any of the six countries would be covered by the order and potentially turned back at the border.

Both bans were halted in federal court after widespread protests and criticism from civil-rights groups and lawmakers who claimed they unconstitutionally targeted Muslims.

Administration officials insisted they could bar anyone who was not a citizen or legal-permanent resident, a so-called green-card holder, for security reasons. But U.S. District Court Judge Derrick Watson in Hawaii blocked the second order by ruling that “the illogic of the government’s contentions is palpable.”

The Justice Department has appealed a decision in federal court in Maryland. White House spokesman Sean Spicer said the administration plans to appeal the ruling in Hawaii.