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Judge blocks Trump's latest travel ban hours before it is set to take effect Judge blocks Trump's latest travel ban hours before it is set to take effect
(35 minutes later)
A federal judge has halted yet another of Donald Trump’s travel bans, the latest in a series of legal setbacks for the president’s immigration agenda.A federal judge has halted yet another of Donald Trump’s travel bans, the latest in a series of legal setbacks for the president’s immigration agenda.
After courts rejected his earlier attempts to impose sweeping restrictions on refugees and travelers from majority-muslims countries, Mr Trump in September unveiled a new executive order indefinitely banning travelers from Iran, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Chad, and North Korea. Seeking to carry through on a campaign vow to crack down on immigration, Mr Trump has now issued three different prohibitions on travelers from mostly Muslim-majority countries. Courts have repeatedly thwarted his efforts, though the Supreme Court preserved a version of an earlier ban.
But U.S. District Court Judge Derrick Watson on Tuesday blocked implementation just hours before the ban was set to take effect, writing that it suffered from the same legal weaknesses as previous versions.  In September, Mr Trump unveiled a new executive order indefinitely banning or curtailing travel from Iran, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Chad, Venezuela and North Korea.
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U.S. District Court Judge Derrick Watson on Tuesday blocked implementation of that order just hours before the ban was set to take effect, writing that it suffered from the same legal weaknesses as previous versions. The same judge has repeatedly ruled against the Trump administration in legal clashes over travel bans, blocking an earlier version and later moving to expand the universe of relatives who could be admitted.
The Supreme Court ultimately allowed aspects of the earlier travel ban to stand, handing the Trump administration a partial victory. It preserved a temporary halt on visitors from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen and a suspension of refugee admissions in cases where people could not prove “bona fide” ties to the United States like immediate relatives or job offers/
The state of Hawaii, the Muslim Association of Hawaii and an Egyptian-American imam with Syrian relatives sued to block the latest version from taking effect.
 
While Judge Watson said the federal government had not provided evidence that permitting banned travelers would be “detrimental to the United States”, he wrote that Hawaii’s higher education system would suffer and that the ban would unjustifiably lead to “prolonged separation from family members”.
He also maintained that the order would affect the Muslim Association because it diminishes “the vibrancy of its religious practices and instills fear among its members”.
“Defendants, on the other hand, are not likely harmed by having to adhere to immigration procedures that have been in place for years—that is, by maintaining the status quo”, Judge Watson wrote.
 
The American Civil Liberties Union hailed the ruling, with  Immigrants’ Rights Project head Omar Jadwat saying in a statement that the organization was “glad, but not surprised, that President Trump’s illegal and unconstitutional Muslim ban has been blocked once again”.