Here’s another round-up of what we’ve been reading and watching this week, from the news and around the web:

This week federal courts dealt another blow to President Donald Trump’s attempt to ban travel from several Muslim-majority nations and halt the country’s refugee program. In separate decisions in Hawaii and Maryland, judges issued nationwide temporary restraining orders against the revised executive order on immigrants and refugees, asserting that the president’s own words on the campaign trail and the statements of those in his administration indicated that the administration’s intent was to discriminate against those of the Muslim faith.

In a Human Rights First press release, Veterans for American Ideals founder Scott Cooper said that the ruling “is a signal that America is staying true to its values” and that “America needed to send a signal to our allies that this is a country based on the rule of law, this ruling did just that.” Read VFAI’s statement against the revised executive order here.

While the temporary restraining order against the executive order is heartening, many, including our veterans, are committed to ensuring that the harmful policy is never implemented. On Thursday VFAI leader Joe Jenkins joined Congressman Luis Guittierez, members of the faith community, advocates, and refugees to speak at a press conference in front of the White House decrying the executive order:

“This executive order, even in its revised form, unfairly targets those of Muslim faith. In its short-sightedness, this policy only reinforces the narrative of our enemies, who would have the world believe that the United States is at war with Islam. We must not give truth to their lies— and we must work with our Muslim brothers and sisters across the world to defeat extremism.”

In addition to news on the executive order, this week we are also invigorated by progress to help our allies in the Afghan Special Immigrant Visa program. As we reported last week, there is a alarming shortfall of visas for interpreters and translators that served alongside U.S. troops in Afghanistan. In response, a bi-partisan team of legislators—in both the House and Senate—introduced amendments that would extend the Afghan Allies Protection Act of 2009 and provide an additional 2,500 visas.

Now we are calling on all veterans to take action and contact your elected representatives to urge support for these vital amendments. It’s simple and only takes a moment,  take action now.

Seeing the opportunity to weigh in, VFAI members Colin Raunig, Travis Weiner, and Dan Zarnowski have been among the first to call on the nation to support a full and swift reinstatement of the Afghan SIV program. Writing in The Hill, the veteran trio describe their efforts to meet with members of Congress in their own districts to fight for our allies. They go on to praise the leadership of Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and John McCain (R-AZ) for taking up their cause on behalf of concerned veterans everywhere:

“[W]e can be a civilizing, unifying voice in our country. We are not props. We are people with the passion and the power and the reach to ensure that our service to our nation meant something then and means something now,” write Rauning, Weiner, and Zarnowski. Work with us and we will work for you. We will not quit.”

Have reactions to share, or want to learn how you can be involved in our efforts to raise veteran voices in support of refugees? Find us on Facebook or Twitter, or contact us at [email protected]