Blow for Donald Trump as US judge blocks travel ban hours before it was to come into effect

In yet another blow for United States President Donald Trump, a US judge has blocked the travel ban just hours before it was to come into effect. Asserting that ban was promoting religious discrimination, the federal judge put a nationwide block on Trump’s travel ban.

This comes just days after Hawaii went on to become the first of the US States to sue Trump’s revised travel ban order. The attorney general,  Doug Chin of Hawaii had claimed that Donald Trump violates the constitution with the revised order.

The attorney general has further urged the court to block the revised executive order which states that funding for the cities which did not obey the immigration officials shall be withdrawn.  The attorney general in his legal filing has mentioned that Trump’s revised order could affect educational institutions, business and not to forget the tourism sector of the state.

Earlier this month, Donald trump had signed a new



travel ban. His administration had hoped that the new ban will end legal challenges by imposing a 90-day ban on the issuance of new visas for citizens of six majority-Muslim nations.

It was earlier reported that the new ban will be more difficult to challenge in court since it no longer covers legal residents or existing visa holders. It also makes waivers possible for some business, diplomatic and other travellers, hence making it difficult for people in the United States who can legally claim they have been harmed.

The new ban was set to be put into effect from March 16 and had also removed Iraq while adding categories of people who would be exempted from the order.

Trump first signed the executive order on January 27 banning travellers from seven Muslim-majority nations – Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen – for 90 days and halted refugee admission for four months, barring Syrian refugees indefinitely.