Several states jointly sue to block Trump's revised travel ban
A group of states renewed their effort on Monday to block President Donald Trump's revised temporary ban on refugees and travelers from several Muslim-majority countries, arguing that his executive order is the same as the first one that was halted by federal courts.
Court papers filed by the state of Washington and joined by California, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York and Oregon asked a judge to stop the March 6 order from taking effect on Thursday.
An amended complaint said the order was similar to the original January 27 directive because it "will cause severe and immediate harms to the States, including our residents, our colleges and universities, our healthcare providers, and our businesses."
A Department of Justice spokeswoman said it was reviewing the complaint and would respond to the court.
A more sweeping ban implemented hastily in January caused chaos and protests at airports. The March order by contrast gave 10 days' notice to travelers and immigration officials.
Washington State sued, claiming the order was discriminatory and violated the US Constitution. Robart’s order was upheld by the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals.
Trump revised his order to overcome some of the legal hurdles by including exemptions for legal permanent residents and existing visa holders and taking Iraq off the list of countries covered. The new order still halts citizens of Iran, Libya, Syria, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen from entering the United States for 90 days but has explicit waivers for various categories of immigrants with ties to the country.
Refugees are still barred for 120 days, but the new order removed an indefinite ban on all refugees from Syria.
Washington State has now gone back to Robart to ask him to apply his emergency halt to the new ban.
Robart said in a court order Monday that the government has until Tuesday to respond to the states' motions. He said he would not hold a hearing before Wednesday and did not commit to a specific date to hear arguments from both sides.
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