The Latest: Massachusetts Calls US Travel Ban 'Unlawful'

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MARCH 9, 2017




Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson listens to a question at a news conference the state's response to President Trump's revised travel ban Thursday, March 9, 2017, in Seattle. Legal challenges against Trump's revised travel ban mounted Thursday as Washington state said it would renew its request to block the executive order. It came a day after Hawaii launched its own lawsuit, and Ferguson said both Oregon and New York had asked to join his state's legal action.



HONOLULU (AP) — The Latest on Hawaii's lawsuit and legal efforts by other U.S. states challenging President Donald Trump's travel ban (all times local): 11:50 a.m. Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey say her state is joining Washington state's lawsuit against President Donald Trump's revised travel ban.

The Democrat said Trump's travel ban "remains a discriminatory and unconstitutional attempt to make good on his campaign promise to implement a Muslim ban." Healey said Thursday that she decided to consolidate legal efforts by joining other states, led by Washington, to challenge what she called the administration's "unlawful immigration policies."

Healey's office has voluntarily dropped its case in Massachusetts against the first version of the travel ban. Other states opposed to the travel ban are consolidating their efforts with the Washington state lawsuit.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said in a statement Thursday that his office is also joining the lawsuit. He is calling the revised executive order "a Muslim ban by another name."

11:15 a.m.

A religious leader's mother-in-law living in Syria is playing a large part in Hawaii's lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump's travel ban.

Imam Ismail Elshikh of the Muslim Association of Hawaii is a plaintiff in the state's challenge. He says the ban will prevent his Syrian mother-in-law from visiting him.

Hawaii Attorney General Douglas Chin says people like Elshikh's mother-in-law have fewer rights than U.S. citizens.

But Chin says the imam is a U.S. citizen, has rights and would be prevented from seeing his mother-in-law.

The mother-in-law is awaiting approval of a visa to see her relatives in Hawaii.

Chin says the woman and others have become victims because of the ban's "standardless set of waivers and exceptions that weren't set by Congress."

11:05 a.m.

Massachusetts is joining Washington state's lawsuit against President Donald Trump's new travel ban.

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, a Democrat, said Thursday is state is consolidating legal efforts and joining fellow states led by Washington state in challenging the revised travel ban barring new visas for people from six predominantly Muslim countries and temporarily shutting down the U.S. refugee program .

Healey's office voluntarily dismissed its travel ban lawsuit on Thursday.

She says Massachusetts will join the Washington and Minnesota case next week when an amended complaint is filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle.

11 a.m.

Hawaii's lawsuit challenging the travel ban focuses heavily on damage to the state's economy and mainly tourism.

Hawaii Attorney General Douglas Chin says the tourism angle is unique because the state relies so heavily on visitors and Hawaii officials have a right to defend the economy.

Chin told reporters Thursday that the state has already been hurt by the proposed ban even though it doesn't go into effect until March 16.

Chin says officials have already received of people are already less inclined to travel to the United States.

He also says people may fear traveling even within Hawaii because they would be forced to encounter a federal agent every time they get on a plane to visit a neighboring island.

10:55 a.m.

Hawaii Attorney General Douglas Chin says his state cannot stay silent on President Donald Trump's travel ban because of Hawaii's unique culture and history.

The new travel ban order comes just after the 75th anniversary of the Feb. 19, 1942, executive order by President Franklin Roosevelt that sent Japanese Americans were sent to internment camps during World War II.

That order was put in place after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Hawaii had an internment camp.

10:50 a.m.

Hawaii Attorney General Douglas Chin says the state is defending its tourism-linked economy as part of its lawsuit against President Donald Trump's revised travel ban.

He said Thursday the state depends heavily on tourism, believes the revised ban would hurt the state's economy and that Hawaii state officials have right to defend it.

Hawaii on Wednesday became the first state to sue the administration over its revised travel ban.

The executive order that goes into effect March 16 bars new visas for people from six predominantly Muslim countries and temporarily shuts down the U.S. refugee program. It doesn't apply to travelers who already have visas.

Hawaii also says the order will harm its Muslim population and foreign students.

11:35 a.m.

New York's attorney general says his state will join Washington state's lawsuit against President Donald Trump's travel ban.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman in a statement Thursday calls the executive order "a Muslim ban by another name."

Legal challenges to the ban are mounting.

On Wednesday Hawaii filed its own lawsuit against Trump's revised travel ban, saying the order will harm its Muslim population, tourism and foreign students.

Washington state won an initial effort to block Trump's first travel ban and is asking a judge to block the revised ban.

11:30 a.m.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer says the administration is confident the revised U.S. travel ban will stand up to legal scrutiny.

The state of Hawaii was the first state to sue after President Donald Trumps' revised travel ban was announced Monday. Hawaii says the ban would be harmful to its Muslim community and the island state's tourism economy.

Spicer said during the White House briefing Thursday that administration officials "feel very confident with how that was crafted and the input that was given."

Trump issued the revised executive order after a federal judge in Seattle issued a temporary restraining order halting the initial travel ban order after Washington state and Minnesota sued. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that decision.

Washington state is asking a judge to extend his order to block the revised ban.

11:15 a.m.

Washington state is asking a federal judge to block President Donald Trump's revised travel ban.

Washington was the first state to sue over the original travel ban, which resulted in a federal judge in Seattle halting its implementation around the country.

Attorney General Bob Ferguson on Thursday said the state would ask the judge to extend his temporary restraining order against the first ban to Trump's revised order.

Trump's revised ban bars new visas for people from six predominantly Muslim countries: Somalia, Iran, Syria, Sudan, Libya and Yemen. It also temporarily shuts down the U.S. refugee program.

Unlike the initial order, the new order says current visa holders will not be affected and removes language that would give priority to religious minorities.

Hawaii on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against Trump's revised travel ban, saying the order will harm its Muslim population, tourism and foreign students

11:10 a.m.

Washington state's attorney general is asking a federal judge to affirm that an order blocking President Donald Trump's first travel ban will also apply to a revised travel ban.

Attorney General Bob Ferguson in Seattle made the announcement about the legal challenge to the revised travel ban.

The new ban goes into effect March 16 and bars new visas for people from six predominantly Muslim countries and temporarily shuts down the U.S. refugee program.

7:40 a.m.

Officials from two states that have filed legal challenges against President Donald Trump's travel bans plan to discuss their lawsuits later Thursday.

Separate news conferences are planned Thursday by Hawaii Attorney General Douglas Chin in Honolulu and Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson in Seattle.

Hawaii on Wednesday became the first state to sue the administration over its revised travel ban. The executive order, which goes into effect March 16, bars new visas for people from six predominantly Muslim countries and temporarily shuts down the U.S. refugee program. It doesn't apply to travelers who already have visas.

Hawaii says the order will harm its Muslim population, tourism and foreign students.

A federal judge in Seattle issued a temporary restraining order halting Trump's initial travel ban order after Washington state and Minnesota sued. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that decision.

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