Trump’s travel ban weakened
WASHINGTON: A federal court in Hawaii ruled on Thursday that President Donald Trump’s temporary ban on travellers from six Muslim-majority countries will not apply to grandparents, grandchildren and other relatives of residents of the US.
The court also exempted from the ban refugees from these countries being brought to the US by a resettlement agency.
The court’s order significantly expanded the exempted category of “bona fide” and “close familial relationships” to now include grandparents, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, brothersand-sisters-in-law, aunts, uncles and cousins.
“(The) government’s definition represents the antithesis of common sense,” district judge Derrick Watson said, referring to the narrow definition of “close familial relationships” that the Trump administration used to exempt only parents, spouses, fiancés, children, siblings, stepchildren and sons- and-daughters-in-law from the travel ban.
The Supreme Court in June cleared way for the implementation of the ban on travellers from Libya, Sudan, Somalia, Iran, Yemen and Syria, saying those claiming “bone fide” and “close familial relationships” to US residents could not be stopped.
The ban is in effect for 90 days for general travellers from these countries and for 120 for refugees. The Trump administration has stated time would be used to put in place an effective vetting mechanism to keep out terrorist or those posing a threat to America’s national security.