FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Shayan Modarres
Phone: (202) 780-9590
Email: [email protected]

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Shayan Modarres, Legal Counsel for the National Iranian American Council, issued the following statement regarding the U.S. District Court’s decision to include grandparents, uncles and aunts, cousins, nieces and nephews, and siblings-in-law as close familial relationships:

“We applaud U.S. District Court Judge Derrick Watson for standing up for the rule of law and decency by finding that the exclusion of grandparents and other close family members from the Trump administration’s definition of close familial relationship ‘represents the antithesis of common sense.’

“We have always maintained that the Muslim ban as a whole – consisting of the executive order and the backdoor administrative ban that is already being carried out – is the antithesis of common sense as it does not reflect or address real security concerns, fails to keep Americans safer, and infringes on the rights of many American citizens to see family and friends. Sadly, today’s decision does not provide relief to many refugees, including the refugees currently before the U.S. Supreme Court. Even a partial Muslim ban is still a Muslim ban. Until the Muslim ban is fully defeated we cannot rest.”