A Federal Judge In Hawaii Has Frozen Trump’s Latest Travel Ban

President Trump’s second executive order temporarily halting the issuance of visas to six Muslim-majority countries has hit a judicial snag before it was to begin on Thursday. Much like the first travel ban, the second executive order, which removed Iraq from its list of countries affected, would also lower refugees accepted into the United States this year from 110,000 to 50,000. But much like the first, it has been frozen nationwide. This time by U.S. District Judge Derrick K. Watson from Hawaii.

The judge stated, “the notion that one can demonstrate animus toward any group of people only by targeting all of them at once is fundamentally flawed.” He continued in his relatively scathing takedown of the order with multiple points:

The White House has held firm that this temporary travel ban was in the interest of national security, but in his ruling, Judge Watson concluded with, “when considered alongside the constitutional injuries and harms discussed above, and the questionable evidence supporting the Government’s national security motivations, the balance of equities and public interests justify granting the Plaintiff’s TRO.”

While this newfangled executive order was less sweeping than the original ban, Trump’s campaign promises of a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States” have undercut this order:

And Trump’s response: