Trump travel ban takes effect, Hawaii AG to challenge
The scaled-back version of President Trump’s temporary travel ban — allowed by the U.S. Supreme Court — took effect last night, stripped of provisions that brought protests and chaos at airports worldwide in January, but it faced an immediate legal challenge in Hawaii.
The new rules, a tightening of already-tough visa policies affecting citizens from six Muslim-majority countries the government has identified as sources of terrorism, bars people from Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Yemen, Iran and Libya from getting U.S. visas without a “bona fide” relationship with a close relative, school or business here.
Hawaii Attorney General Doug Chin said some people the federal government decided to exclude might be considered “close family” in Hawaii. A federal judge there is expected to issue a ruling on Hawaii’s motion asking for clarification that the administration can’t enforce the ban against fiances or relatives not defined by the administration guidelines.
Administration officials promised that implementation, which started at 8 p.m., would be orderly. Customs and Border Protection spokesman Dan Hetlage said his agency expected “business as usual at our ports of entry.”
At Logan International Airport last night, volunteer lawyer Alexander Teschemacher, working with the group Open Boston, said lawyers would stay at the international terminal to address any issues with people attempting to enter.
“We had one person about 2 o’clock who had that one issue and so far that’s been it,” he said. “They were concerned their relative wouldn’t be allowed in but they got through without any problem ... We’ll probably be here until 11.”
Dartmouth College student Irdina Harith, traveling from Kuala Lumpur through Turkey, arrived 20 minutes after the ban went into place but said she had no problems.
“The process in Turkey was a little longer because they went through each item in my carry-on luggage,” Harith said. “But the rest, other than that, was fine. It was on my mind, but I guess I just had to go through it.”