Bonafide
Embossed, Handmade Paper, 20"x 30", 2017
On June 26, 2017, the Supreme Court issued a partial stay on lower court injunctions against President Trump's Executive Order 13780, allowing the Department of Homeland Security to enforce parts of the travel ban while the Court deliberated on the president's authority over border policies.
The decision barred entry to foreign nationals from six Muslim-majority countries unless they could demonstrate a “credible claim of a ‘bona fide’ relationship with a U.S. person or entity”, a phrase rooted in the evidentiary language of the Immigration Act of 1924. The 1924 Act banned foreign nationals from predominantly Asian countries and laid the groundwork for the forced relocation and incarceration of approximately 120,000 people of Japanese descent in internment camps during World War II.
On June 26, 2018, the Supreme Court upheld the third version of the travel ban in a 5–4 decision, ruling it within the president's authority under the Immigration and Nationality Act, despite its discriminatory effects. This ban, which reversed Obama-era policies providing asylum for persecuted LGBTQ populations, remained in effect until January 20, 2021, when President Joe Biden revoked it via proclamation.
