Hawaii sues to block Trump’s revised travel ban

Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Attorney General Jeff Sessions unveiled the new order on March 6 at a Washington, D.C., press conference. But they argued it has the same constitutional issues as the original ban.

He noted that the new travel ban order comes just after the 75th anniversary of the February 19, 1942, executive order by President Franklin Roosevelt that sent Japanese Americans to internment camps during World War II.

Drops Iraq from the original list of seven Muslim majority nations from which foreign nationals are blocked for 90 days from entering the U.S. The remaining six countries are: Yemen, Somalia, Libya, Sudan, Syria and Iran.

That provision satisfies any potential legal claim that a USA citizen could make in seeking the entry of a foreign national, the government said. It also makes clear that current visa holders will not be impacted, and it removes language that would give priority to religious minorities – a provision some interpreted as a way to help Christians get into the US while excluding Muslims. Jettisoned is the indefinite ban on Syrian refugees. “It may be harder to convince a judge there’s religious animus here”. The second White House executive avoids some of the obvious legal challenges levied against the first. It exempts several categories of people from its restrictions, including dual nationals who have USA citizenship, green card holders and people who already hold valid visas. (A federal appeals court stayed Trump’s first order on February 3).

The lawsuit says that Elshikh fears his mother-in-law will not be able to enter the country under the new order. But it doesn’t placate concerns that the ban stems from a bias against Muslims and a desire to ban them in some capacity, a policy that Trump championed on the campaign trail.

He said people may fear traveling even within Hawaii because they would be forced to encounter a federal agent every time they get on a plane to visit a neighboring island.

Ferguson asked the judge Thursday to extend an injunction that was issued against Trump’s initial executive order.

“Under the pretence of national security, it still targets immigrants and refugees”.

Should the order move forward, many previous cases could follow suit. “We will continue to work with President Trump to keep our country safe”, House Speaker Paul Ryan said in a statement.

Administration officials told reporters Monday that the new order would not cause delays or deportations at airports. Nor were the lawyers at the Justice Department, who ended up unsuccessfully defending it in court, fully briefed on the matter.

Ferguson added: “The intent behind the executive order targeting those Muslim countries still remains, and that is unconstitutional”.

“Make no mistake, this is the Muslim ban that President Trump and his aides have been promising”, Farhana Khera, president of Muslim Advocates, said in a statement.

According to Reuters, legal experts say that the order will be hard to challenge, as it largely protects people already living in the US.

Hawaii on Wednesday became the first state to sue the administration over its revised travel ban.

That sets the ban up for a variety of conflicting decisions.