MIAMI – The U.S. Supreme Court decision to uphold President Donald Trump's controversial ban on travel from several mostly Muslim countries is causing an uproar among many people, but when it comes to Venezuela, the ruling is being considered very much a victory.
The travel ban has already been in effect since late last year and targets Venezuelan government officials and their families.
The ban in large part came in response to the demands of members of the Venezuelan community in South Florida, who asked the White House to take action against the Venezuelan government, which many consider to be a dictatorship.
The government of Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro has said the travel ban is an act of psychological and political terrorism.
While only Venezuelan government officials and their families are targeted by the travel ban, it restricts travel to the U.S. by all people from five Muslim-majority countries, including Iran, Libya, Syria, Somalia and Yemen.
The American Civil Liberties Union responded to the ruling by saying, "This ruling will go down in history as one of the Supreme Court's great failures."
The ACLU's statement went on to say it, "swallows wholesale government lawyers' flimsy national security excuse for the ban instead of taking seriously the president's own explanation for his actions."
ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt told The Associated Press it's a situation "in which there is a complete disconnect between the court's decision and what the American people know as a matter of common sense."
The court on Tuesday rejected a challenge that the policy discriminated against Muslims or exceeded the president's authority.
Gelernt said it's clear "that the president for political reasons chose to enact a Muslim ban despite national security experts, both Democrat and Republican" who counseled against it.
He said it's "too early to know exactly what our next steps are."
