Judge in Washington Refuses to Extend Order on Trump’s Travel Ban

Also applauding the court action was New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas, who said in a statement that he supported ruling to “halt President Trump’s new, illegal travel ban”. The state also contended that its Muslim residents would suffer because their relatives from the six affected countries – Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen – would not be able to visit. The first version was blocked by a federal court in Seattle in January.

On Wednesday, a federal judge in Hawaii blocked President Trump’s new travel ban just hours before it was set to go into effect, arguing that it lacks legal muster.

Judges for the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, which blocked the first ban, said they took note of the “serious nature” of argument that ban targeted Muslims specifically because of the exemption for a person from a “minority religion”. And on Capitol Hill, his tweets alleging that his predecessor wiretapped his NY skyscraper have brought Democrats and Republicans together in rare agreement: They’ve seen no evidence to back up Trump’s provocative claims.

“I am sure that challengers will use the president’s comments last night as further evidence that the true intent of his executive order is to bar Muslim immigration”, said Stephen Yale-Loehr, a professor of immigration law at Cornell Law School. The states’ First Amendment claim has not been resolved. Lawyers from the Solicitor General’s Office typically argue before the Supreme Court. Since 9/11, not one American has been killed on US soil in a terrorist attack by an immigrant from one of the half-dozen banned countries, so just how crucial is this pause for “extreme vetting?” “It doesn’t draw any religious distinctions”.

A second federal judge in Maryland issued a separate, more narrow nationwide block on just the core provision concerning travel from the Muslim world, ruling it would cause “irreparable harm” were it to go into effect.

Acting U.S. Attorney Joon Kim announced no charges against Mayor Bill de Blasio or others acting on his behalf.

Trump’s original executive order called for the barring of citizens from Syria, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Yemen, Sudan and Somalia from entering the US for 90 days, suspension of the entire refugee program for four months and an indefinite block on Syrian refugees.

Washington state, joined by California, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York and OR, said in court filings they supported the plaintiffs in Seattle. Watson was one of three federal judges to hear arguments Wednesday about the ban, though he was the first to issue an opinion.

In a February interview, Miller downplayed any major differences the new executive order would have from the first and said it would be “responsive to the judicial ruling” holding it up and have “mostly minor technical differences”.

The Hawaii case, brought by state Atty. The “religious objective” of the latest executive order is made clear in those statements, the judges determined. Earlier this month, he even dismissed the White House’s claims that the revised travel ban is United States’ way to avoid future terrorist attacks.

Trump’s executive order would temporarily ban refugees as well as travelers from six predominantly Muslim countries.

He also called the new executive order a “watered-down version of the first one” – remarks that will probably not help his case in court, if indeed his administration does attempt to fight the decision – and suggested resuscitating the the original order.