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donald trump revised travel ban

Hawaii federal Judge Derrick Watson has indefinitely extended the suspension of President Donald Trump’s revised travel ban.

The judge’s ruling means President Trump will be barred from enforcing the ban on six mostly Muslim nations while it is contested in court.

In a lawsuit, the state of Hawaii says the ban would harm tourism and the ability to recruit foreign students and workers.

Donald Trump says his revised travel ban seeks to prevent terrorists from entering the US.

Judge Derrick Watson made the ruling on March 29 after hearing arguments from attorneys for the state of Hawaii and the DoJ.

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The judge turned his earlier temporary restraining order into a preliminary injunction that would have a more lasting effect.

President Trump’s executive order on March 6 would have placed a 90-day ban on people from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen and a 120-day ban on refugees.

An earlier version of the order, issued in January, sparked confusion and protests, and was blocked by a judge in Seattle.

Other courts across the US have issued different rulings on President Trump’s revised ban, with a judge in Maryland halting a part of the ban earlier this month.

Donald Trump has complained of “unprecedented judicial overreach”, pledging to take the case “as far as it needs to go”.

An appeal against the Hawaii decision would be expected to go next to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals – the same court which in February said it would not block a ruling by a Seattle court to halt the original travel ban.

Under the revised order, citizens of six countries on the original January 27 order – Iran, Libya, Syria, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen – would once more be subject to a 90-day travel ban.

Iraq was removed from the list because its government had boosted visa screening and data sharing, White House officials said.

President Trump’s revised order also lifts an indefinite ban on all Syrian refugees and says Green Card holders (legal permanent residents of the US) from the named countries will not be affected.

A Hawaii federal judge has blocked President Donald Trump’s revised travel ban, hours before it was due to begin after midnight on March 16.

District Judge Derrick Watson cited “questionable evidence” in the government’s argument that the ban was a matter of national security.

President Donald Trump described the ruling as “unprecedented judicial overreach”.

The executive order would have placed a 90-day ban on people from six mainly Muslim nations and a 120-day ban on refugees.

President Trump insists the move is to stop terrorists from entering the United States, but critics say it is discriminatory.

An earlier version of the order, issued in January, sparked confusion and protests, and was blocked by a judge in Seattle.

Judge Derrick Watson said the court had established a strong likelihood that, were the ban to go ahead, it would cause “irreparable injury” by violating First Amendment protections against religious discrimination.

Hawaii had argued that the ban would harm tourism and the ability to recruit foreign students and workers in the state.

The 43-page ruling argued that a “reasonable, objective observer” taking into account the context of the Executive Order would conclude it “was issued with a purpose to disfavor a particular religion”.

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It notes statements made by Donald Trump such as a 2015 press release calling for “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States”, and his adviser Rudolph Guiliani, who said in a TV interview in January: “When [President Trump] first announced it, he said, <<Muslim ban>>. He called me up. He said: <<Put a commission together. Show me the right way to do it legally>>.”

It also says there is a “dearth of evidence indicating a national security purpose”.

Speaking at a rally in Nashville, Tennessee on March 15, Donald Trump said the ruling in Hawaii was “flawed” and a case of “unprecedented judicial overreach”.

The Trump administration argues that the constitution gives the president the power to suspend immigration when he deems it to be in the national interest of the country, and that neither the initial or revised orders discriminate on the basis of religion.

DoJ lawyers argue that the revised ban is an extension of President Barack Obama’s move towards stricter screening of travelers from the six countries.

Donald Trump said he will take the case “as far as it needs to go”, including to the Supreme Court.

An appeal against the Hawaii decision would be expected to go next to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals – the same court which in February said it would not block a ruling by a Seattle court to half the original travel ban.

However, also on March 15, five judges at that court wrote a letter saying they believed that decision was an “error”, and the first Executive Order was “well within the powers of the presidency”.

California, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon and Washington are all taking part in legal actions against the revised ban.

Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson, who is attending a court hearing in Seattle in his efforts to block the travel ban, described the ruling as “fantastic news”.