Holwell Shuster & Goldberg Reunites Syrian Family After Successful Challenge to President Trump’s Travel Ban
New York—Holwell Shuster & Goldberg LLP represented, on a pro bono basis, a young Syrian man in connection with President Trump’s executive orders barring entry into the United States from Syria and certain other countries.
The firm’s client, a Sunni Muslim man who lives in Wisconsin, was granted asylum in 2016 after being fully vetted by U.S. immigration authorities. He promptly filed derivative asylum applications to reunite with his wife and three-year-old daughter, both of whom were forced to remain behind in Aleppo, Syria. The derivative asylum applications were in their final stages of processing when President Trump signed his original travel ban in January 2017.
HSG filed a lawsuit on the man’s behalf in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin against President Trump, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security John Kelly, and others. The amended complaint is available here.
On March 10, Chief Judge William Conley entered a temporary restraining order enjoining enforcement of President Trump’s revised travel ban against the firm’s client and his family. This represented the first TRO in the nation against President Trump’s revised executive order.
On April 23, his family’s derivative asylum applications were approved by the U.S. Government and, after more than three years apart, the family was reunited in the United States on April 26.
“We are thrilled for our client and his family,” said Vincent Levy, a partner at Holwell Shuster & Goldberg LLP who represented plaintiff John Doe. “In the face of two executive orders that sought to prevent innocent refugees and asylum seekers from seeking safety in the United States, the reunion of John Doe’s family is a victory, not just for our client and his wife and young daughter, but for the rule of law as well.”
The HSG team consisted of partner Vincent Levy, associates Andrew Breidenbach, Lauren Giudice, Matthew Noller, Sarah Sternlieb, and Andrei Vrabie, and law clerk Kevin Benish. Pines Bach LLP acted as Wisconsin counsel.
The Associated Press published an article featuring our client, you can access the article here.