Hawaii files lawsuit against Trump Travel Ban 2.0

The hearing has been set for March 15, a day before the new ban goes into effect. Hawaii is asking a federal court to put an emergency halt to the revised order.

Crowds rally against the Trump administration's new travel ban outside  the US Customs and Border Protection headquarters in Washington, March 7, 2017.
TRT World and Agencies

Crowds rally against the Trump administration's new travel ban outside the US Customs and Border Protection headquarters in Washington, March 7, 2017.

The state of Hawaii on Wednesday filed a lawsuit in a federal court to put an emergency halt to US President Donald Trump's revised travel ban.

Arguing that the travel ban violates the US Constitution, the state asked the court to grant a temporary restraining order that should apply nationally.

A hearing is set for March 15, a day before the ban goes into effect.

Earlier, the federal court allowed Hawaii's attorney general to submit an altered lawsuit previously lodged against Trump's original order signed in January.

How different is the new ban?

The revised travel order changed and replaced an original, more sweeping ban issued on January 27 that was challenged in more than two dozen lawsuits around the country.

A federal court put the first order on hold. It was later upheld by an appeals court.

The new order is much more tailored. It keeps a 90-day ban on travel to the US by citizens of Iran, Libya, Syria, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen, but excludes Iraq and applies the restriction only to new visa applicants.

It also removed an indefinite ban on all refugees from Syria.

The order no longer covers legal residents or existing visa holders, and makes waivers possible for some business, diplomatic and other travellers.

Hawaii claims harm

Hawaii claims its state universities would be harmed by the order because they would have trouble recruiting students and faculty.

It also says the island state's economy would be hit by a decline in tourism.

The state was joined by a new plaintiff named Ismail Elshikh, an American citizen from Egypt, who is an Imam at the Muslim Association of Hawaii whose mother-in-law lives in Syria, according to the lawsuit.

"This second Executive Order is infected with the same legal problems as the first Order," the state said in court papers filed on Tuesday.

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