By Michael Hernandez
WASHINGTON (AA) – Washington state will ask a federal judge to reinstate a temporary injunction on President Donald Trump’s new travel ban, state attorney general announced on Thursday.
“My message to President Trump is — not so fast,” Bob Ferguson said. “After spending more than a month to fix a broken order that he rushed out the door, the President’s new order reinstates several of the same provisions and has the same illegal motivations as the original.”
Washington is asking federal Judge James Robart, who originally agreed to a temporary restraining order on Feb. 3 to an earlier version of the ban, to confirm it applies to the new version Trump signed on Monday.
The original injunction was upheld by a higher court, forcing the American president to reformulate his order.
Washington said in a statement it continues to argue that Trump’s new travel ban violates the U.S. constitution “by disfavoring Islam”.
The new version drops Iraq from the list of proscribed countries, and omits a permanent ban on Syrian refugees originally included in the first version. Nationals of Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen will not be able to receive new visas for a 90-day period under the new order, which goes into effect March 16.
Oregon and New York are expected to join Washington’s action, which Minnesota was originally a party to.
The legal challenges to Trump’s order have been mounting since he announced his decision.
A federal judge earlier this week agreed to hear the U.S. state of Hawaii’s legal challenge to Trump’s latest attempt next Wednesday — one day before the order is set to go into effect.
