Well this should be interesting -- I could see this stay leading to a constitutional crisis in short order if Donald Trump decides to ignore the court's ruling.
What are the consequences if he decides to ignore the courts ruling? Can someone elaborate please? Thank you. As an immigrant, America changed my life and people should be afforded the same privilege regardless of religion, country etc. This is just ridiculous.
Well that's the tricky part. The branches all sort of rock paper scissor each other to keep everyone in check. I guess a judge could order CBP to not enforce the order, and if they do enforce it he could potentially hold someone very senior from that department in contempt of court. Additionally previous administrations would be afraid of impeachment by congress. Which is another remedy, but it seems unlikely with the republican majority in the house and senate.
But there is a twist, since the executive branch runs all the prisons, if the executive branch at the federal level is ignoring the rules it is unlikely that they will hold someone in custody for contempt.
And that is why people think it could become a constitutional crisis.
It's complicated. The President has broad authority in many matters; however the real brake on what he can do is the threat of impeachment, which here is zero. He has no control over the court system which would likely force others to follow their orders. If it were brought to the supreme court, it's hard to say what would happen, I suspect even with the split they would rule against him.
PS I just donated to the ACLU. You should too. https://action.aclu.org/donate-aclu?ms=web_horiz_nav_hp