US judges block Trump”s six-country entry ban

US President Donald Trump’s new ban on travellers from six Muslim-majority countries was kept from taking effect Thursday, with federal judges on opposite sides of the country blocking the policy. A court in Maryland on the East Coast issued an order early Thursday halting of a key provision of Trump’s executive order, which would impose […]

US President Donald Trump’s new ban on travellers from six Muslim-majority countries was kept from taking effect Thursday, with federal judges on opposite sides of the country blocking the policy.

A court in Maryland on the East Coast issued an order early Thursday halting of a key provision of Trump’s executive order, which would impose a 90-day freeze on issuing visas to people from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

US District Judge Theodore Chuang said that plaintiffs were likely to win eventual adjudication of their claim that the order violates the US Constitution’s ban on religious discrimination, because the six countries affected are all overwhelmingly Muslim.

Earlier in Hawaii, hours before the ban was due to take effect, federal Judge Derrick Watson had earlier issued a similar but broader temporary restraining order against Trump’s policy.

The judges however did not rule on the constitutionality of the policy, only halted it to allow courts to consider that challenge.

Watson said those challenging the travel ban would likely be successful in their claim that it violated the Constitution’s ban on religious discrimination.

"Plaintiffs have shown a strong likelihood of succeeding in their claim that the Executive Order violates First Amendment rights under the Constitution," he wrote.

An objective observer "would conclude that the Executive Order was issued with a purpose to disfavour a particular religion, in spite of its stated, religiously-neutral purpose," the judge said.

He pointed to Trump’s past comments against Muslims and concluded that the government claim that the ban did not discriminate against Muslims because it only banned citizens of some countries and not all Muslims was illogical.

Ismail Elshikh, an imam at a Hawaii mosque, had challenged Trump’s order, claiming that it prevented his Syrian mother-in-law from joining his family in Hawaii, "denying them their right, among other things, to associate with family members overseas on the basis of their religion and national origin," court documents showed.

Elshikh challenged the policy along with the state of Hawaii, which said it would economically harm the Pacific island state’s education and tourism industries.

Speaking at a rally of supporters in Nashville, Tennessee, Trump late Wednesday called the Hawaii ruling "terrible" and accused the judge of political motives.

An earlier version of Trump’s order was suspended last month in federal courts. The Trump administration believed it had addressed the legal concerns in the new order.

"Let me tell you something, I think we ought to go back to the first one, and go all the way," Trump said at the Nashville rally.

"The danger is clear, the law is clear – the need for my executive order is clear."

Trump’s new action had dropped Iraq from the list of targeted countries affected but maintained a 120-day freeze in US refugee admissions. (DPA)