Trump vows to fight court decision on travel ban

PRESIDENT Donald Trump has attacked a US court for halting what he called a “watered-down version” of his travel ban.

Mr Trump told supporters a district judge in Hawaii had halted his order, which temporarily suspends the US refugee programme and bars the entry of people from certain Muslim-majority countries.

The president told the campaignstyle rally in Nashville, Tennessee, that the ruling is “unprecedented judicial overreach” and “makes us look weak”.

He said he is going to fight the decision and take it all the way to the Supreme Court, if necessary.

The president told the rally: “We’re going to win. We’re going to keep our citizens safe. The danger is clear. The law is clear. The need for my executive order is clear.”

US District Judge Derrick Watson put the revised travel ban on hold hours before it was due to take effect.

He questioned whether the administration was motivated by national security concerns, and said Hawaii would suffer financially if the executive order blocked the flow of students and tourists to the state.

The judge concluded that Hawaii was likely to succeed on a claim that the ban violates First Amendment protections against religious discrimination. “The illogic of the government’s contentions is palpable,” he wrote.

“The notion that one can demonstrate animus toward any group of people only by targeting all of them at once is fundamentally flawed.”

He made it clear that his decision applied nationwide, ruling the ban could not be enforced at any US borders or ports of entry or in issuing visas.