Court blocks President Trump's immigration ban

A court in Hawaii on October 17 issued a ruling blocking the Trump administration's latest immigration order before it was set to take effect this week.

US President Donald Trump signs an executive order. Photo: Reuters

According toReuters, Judge Derrick Watson in federal court in Honolulu, Hawaii on October 17 issued a ruling blocking the immigration order announced by the Donald Trump administration last month. This order bans citizens of Iran, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Chad, North Korea and some Venezuelan government officials from entering the United States.

The state of Hawaii has sued President Trump over his new travel ban, arguing that federal immigration law does not give the US leader the authority to impose a ban on six of the eight countries. Accordingly, Hawaii has sought to block the implementation of the ban on citizens of the six countries, except North Korea and Venezuela.

“This order repeats exactly the same mistakes as the previous order. It lacks sufficient evidence to show that banning the entry of more than 150 million people from the six countries would harm the interests of the United States,” Judge Watson said.

The White House said in a statement that Judge Watson’s ruling was “seriously flawed” and that it was confident other courts would ultimately uphold Trump’s order. The Justice Department called the ruling “inaccurate” and said it would quickly appeal.

Following Judge Watson's ruling, the State Department has directed embassies and consulates around the world to "continue visa screening" for citizens of Chad, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen, according to a Justice Department official.

President Trump's latest executive order is the third immigration ban issued after previous ones were met with opposition from the public and the US judiciary. The Trump administration's targets are countries with large Muslim populations. Many people believe that these executive orders violate the freedom of religion stipulated in the Constitution and show the racist mentality in the US.

According to Dan Tri