Trump's revised travel ban challenged, again by Washington state

Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson challenged Thursday again U.S. President Donald Trump's revised travel ban targeting six Muslim-majority countries.

In documents to be filed in federal court, Ferguson contends that the injunction he obtained a month ago blocking key sections of the president's previous immigration executive order applies to the new version signed Monday.

Judge James Robart of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, based in Seattle, ruled on Feb. 3 in favor of the states of Washington and Minnesota and put the travel ban on hold, prompting the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to appeal.

Three judges sitting on the motions panel of the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, based in San Francisco, Northern California, ruled on Feb. 9 against reinstating the travel ban.

While the initial travel ban imposed on Jan. 27, a week after Trump was inaugurated, bars entry into the United States by nationals of Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen for 90 days, the revised version drops Iraq from the list. The new executive order also contains other changes.

Washington filed on Jan. 30 the first state lawsuit challenging the Trump administration's move to restrict immigration and resettlement of refugees. And this time, Hawaii became the first state Thursday to file a lawsuit against the revised travel ban. Massachusetts and New York declared the same day that they will follow.

Compared with the initial ban, "nothing of substance has changed: There is the same blanket ban on entry from Muslim-majority countries," Hawaii Attorney General Doug Chin said of the new order.

Chin's assertion was echoed by Ferguson and Noah Purcell, Washington state Solicitor General, at a press conference Thursday morning in Seattle about their approach to challenge the travel ban, arguing that it is not a new lawsuit, rather an effort to seek court confirmation that a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) against the ban is still effective.

"My message to President Trump is -- not so fast," Ferguson said in a statement. "After spending more than a month to fix a broken order that he rushed out the door, the president's new order reinstates several of the same provisions and has the same illegal motivations as the original. Consequently, we are asking Judge Robart to confirm that the injunction he issued remains in full force and effect as to the reinstated provisions."

The burden is on the Trump Administration to argue that the injunction the AG obtained no longer blocks the ban, argued the state attorney general.

As the lawsuit against the Trump administration is ongoing, the Washington state Attorney General's Office anticipates filing an amended complaint on the underlying merits of the case early next week. Oregon and New York are expected to join the case.

Source: Xinhua