US District Judge Derrick Watson on Wednesday extended an earlier temporary restraining order into a preliminary injunction that blocks the enforcement of President Donald Trump’s revised ban on travellers from six predominantly Muslim countries to the United States. Watson’s decision came in response to a lawsuit brought by the state of Hawaii, which is contesting the presidential directive.
Hawaii argued that the travel ban discriminates against Muslims in contravention of the US Constitution and that the ban harms the state’s economy, which is highly dependent on tourism.
A district court in the US state of Maryland has also blocked the revised travel ban, which Trump signed on March 6 after a January executive order caused chaos at airports and sparked mass protests. Enforcement of the original ban was stopped in February by a Washington judge and the Trump administration chose to issue a revised travel ban rather than try to reinstate the first in the courts.
