Fifty American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) [acvocacy website] affiliates filed [press release] 18 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) [text, PDF] requests on Thursday with US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) [official website] to find out how administration officials are interpreting and executing the US immigration executive order. Border Litigation Project Staff Attorney with ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties Mitra Ebadolahi says, “It is imperative that the public learn if federal immigration officials are blatantly defying nationwide federal court orders that block President Trump’s unconstitutional Muslim ban.” According to various news reports, CBP officials are detaining and deporting individuals although federal courts have ordered them to stop enforcing [press release] the executive order [text]. The immigration order signed by President Donald Trump administration is reportedly being executed at more than 55 international airports across the country.

This order, which many claim to be unconstitutional [JURIST report] and in conflict with federal statutes, is one of several orders signed by the president since his inauguration on January 20. Last week the president signed an executive order to withdraw the US [JURIST report] from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade agreement with 11 Pacific Rim Nations signed a year ago. Also last week Trump signed [JURIST report] another order preventing foreign non-governmental organizations from receiving US funding if they provide abortions or promote policies that may lead to abortions. Trump has also addressed the immigration area before in his orders. Last week he signed two orders [JURIST report] withholding federal funding to cities that provide safe haven to illegal immigrants, directing the construction of a wall along the US and Mexican border and an increase in the number of enforcement officials to remove undocumented immigrants. On Monday Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson [official website] sued [JURIST report] President Donald Trump over the executive order. The same day, the Council on American-Islamic Relations [advocacy website] filed a lawsuit [JURIST report] challenging the constitutionality of the same order.