President Donald Trump’s revised travel ban, which barred the issuance of new visas to citizens of six Muslim-majority countries and suspended the admission of new refugees into the United States, was blocked by a federal judge in Hawaii on Wednesday.
The executive order, which was to have taken effect Thursday, was blocked nationwide by U.S. District Judge Derrick K. Watson, the Washington Post reports.
Watson was one of three judges to hear arguments Wednesday on whether or not to freeze the ban, the Post reports. A federal judge in Maryland who heard arguments Wednesday morning said that he might rule by day’s end, and the same judge in Washington state who had suspended the first travel ban was set to hear arguments at 5 p.m. EDT.
Hawaii’s hearing was in response to a lawsuit filed by the state itself. As previously reported on The Root, Hawaii, Oregon, New York and Maryland all said that they would be joining a lawsuit filed by the states of Washington and Minnesota opposing Trump’s travel ban. In addition to halting the issuance of new travel visas to people from six Muslim-majority nations for 90 days, the revised travel ban would suspend the U.S. refugee program for 120 days.
Trump issued the new executive order after his Jan. 27 order was blocked by U.S. District Judge James L. Robart in Washington state. The Justice Department argued that the revised order is “substantially different” from the first, and that its chief goal is to prevent terrorists from entering the country.
Read more at the Washington Post.