Donald Trump’s New Travel Ban Blocked by Federal Judge in Hawaii

U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson said sections of the new travel order likely amounted to a violation of the First Amendment’s establishment clause, which forbids the government from disfavoring certain religions over others.

A federal judge in Honolulu has temporarily halted President Donald Trump’s new travel ban nationwide.

“This court’s original injunction protected these individuals and institutions”, Washington state’s new court filing said.

The ACLU, the National Immigration Law Centre, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HAIS), and a number of named plaintiffs also will have their motion to block the travel ban heard by a U.S. District Court in Maryland on March 15.

President Donald Trump speaking during a meeting on healthcare in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington.

“The ruling makes us look weak”, Trump said during his Nashville speech. “Congress can end this by passing legislation that effectively nullifies the ban”. We’re going to keep our citizens safe. “The ban must be repealed now”.

The judge further explained that, “Equally flawed is the notion that the Executive Order can not be found to have targeted Islam because it applies to all individuals in the six referenced countries”.

“Let me give you the bad news”, Trump said. But other problems remained.

Government lawyers argued that the ban was changed to address legal concerns, including the removal of an exemption for religious minorities from the affected countries.

Mr Trump has said the policy is critical for national security.

The Justice Department has also included a waiver provision for prospective applicants seeking entry despite the ban.

There’s also the possibility that the federal judge in Seattle who blocked the original ban will assert that his February ruling applies to the second ban as well.

The changes were meant to make the order withstand legal challenges and also avoid the chaos created when the first order was put in place, causing more than 100 travelers en route to the United States to be detained or returned to their points of origin. The new executive order, unlike the old, spelled out a list of people who might be granted exemptions, including those seeking to visit or live with family in the United States.