Hawaii to challenge new U.S. travel ban

HONOLULU — A day after U.S. President Donald Trump signed a revised travel ban, attorneys for Hawaii said the state plans to challenge that order as well.

The state wants to amend its existing lawsuit challenging Trump’s previous order to contest the revised one, according to a motion filed Tuesday in federal court in Honolulu.

The new order bars new visas for people from six Muslimmajority countries and temporarily shuts down America’s refugee program, affecting would-be visitors and immigrants from Iran, Syria, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen and Libya.

Hawaii’s lawsuit had been on hold while a nationwide injunction on the initial ban remained in place. This is the second time Hawaii has asked a judge to lift the stay in order to file an amended lawsuit.

Last month, U.S. District Court Judge Derrick Watson in Honolulu allowed the state to file an amended lawsuit adding the Muslim Association of Hawaii’s imam as a plaintiff.

The mother-in-law of Imam Ismail Elshikh is a Syrian national living in Syria, according to the lawsuit that details the effect the ban would have had on Elshikh’s family and others in Hawaii.

According to the motion, attorneys for the government had no position on the request to file another amended lawsuit.

Hawaii plans to file its amended lawsuit and a motion for a temporary restraining order on Wednesday.

Tuesday’s motion proposes a hearing on March 15, a day before the revised ban goes into effect.

Attorneys representing Hawaii couldn’t immediately be reached for comment. Hawaii has hired a Washington, D.C., law firm to help. Josh Wisch, a spokesman for the attorney general’s office, said last month the firm is giving the state a 50 per cent discount.

“This new executive order is nothing more than Muslim Ban 2.0,” Hawaii Attorney General Doug Chin said in a statement.

In Seattle, Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson, whose state won a court order blocking the original travel ban, said the new one is more legally palatable, but still poses concerns and could prompt further court challenges from the state.

“Bottom line is the president has capitulated on numerous key provisions that we contested in court about a month ago,” Ferguson said at a news conference in his office. “This is a very significant victory for the people of the state of Washington.”