The ACLU of Wisconsin has learned that a law firm filed a case in the Western District of Wisconsin yesterday on behalf of a Syrian Muslim resident of Wisconsin who was tortured and persecuted in his homeland, and who was granted political asylum by the United States in May 2016.   According to the lawsuit, his wife and child remain in war-torn Aleppo – a city where his three year old child died in the violence in 2015.  Although this man promptly applied to allow his wife and young daughter to join him in Wisconsin, Pres. Trump’s executive order suspended the final processing of that application.  In response to the announcement of the lawsuit, the ACLU of Wisconsin issues the following statement.  It is attributable to ACLU of Wisconsin Interim Executive Director Molly Collins.

“There have been multiple lawsuits filed against the government’s Muslim Ban.  And these lawsuits raise various Constitutional claims: due process, equal protection, religious and national origin discrimination. 

The ACLU of Wisconsin and many others are extremely concerned that this unconstitutional  Executive Order is causing far more than an “inconvenience” or delay for families affected by it – it is, as this case indicates, putting real peoples’ lives in jeopardy, including the lives of young children.    This order is also a slap in the face to the millions of Americans who uphold our best traditions of welcoming strangers seeking refuge in our country.”