Trump balks at disclosing report backing travel ban

Bloomberg

President Donald Trump says those challenging the latest version of his travel ban in court can’t see a report explaining why he targeted immigrants from seven nations because it’s secret.
The government on Friday told a Hawaii federal judge who demanded disclosure of the report that it’s classified and should remain off-limits as evidence in the court
battle. That judge blocked a previous version of the president’s immigration restrictions amid a fierce debate over national security and discrimination.
Justice Department law-yers said they’d reluctantly provide a copy of the Secretary of Homeland Security’s Sept. 15 report to be viewed privately by the judge “in a secure location.” But they said the judge shouldn’t
review the document because the government won’t be relying on it to defend
the travel ban.
The government lawyers said prior court rulings establish that judges can’t “look behind” public proclamations by presidents about matters of foreign policy and national security. They quoted from a 1999 US Supreme Court case: “The Executive should not have to disclose its ‘real’ reasons for deeming nationals
of a particular country a
special threat.”
Trump’s decree would unconditionally suspend entry to all people traveling to the US from Syria and North Korea and bar many coming from Chad, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Venezuela and Yemen. He concluded that the governments of those nations couldn’t provide the US with assurance their citizens don’t pose safety threats to the U.S.
The president referenced the homeland security report in a proclamation accompanying the revised policy he issued Sept. 24. He said the report recommended limiting entry to certain people from seven nations, while his executive order targets eight countries.
“According to the report, the recommended restrictions would help address the threats that the countries’ identity-management protocols, information-sharing inadequacies, and other risk factors pose to the security and welfare of the United States,” the president said in the proclamation.