Hawaii to file lawsuit against Trump’s new travel order

by Rebecca Savransky - 03/07/17 9:24 PM ET

Hawaii is reportedly planning to file a lawsuit Wednesday against President Trump’s revised travel plan.

Attorneys for the state said in court filings they will request in a motion Wednesday that a federal judge issue a temporary restraining order blocking the president’s new travel ban, CNN reported.

“To be sure, the new executive order covers fewer people than the old one,” Neal Katyal, one of the state’s lead attorneys, said in an interview with CNN.

{mosads}He said the new order, though, still “suffers from the same constitutional and statutory defects.”

The president on Monday issued a new executive order on immigration that includes key changes from his original order — signed in January — which was blocked by a federal appeals court.

The new order, which will take effect March 16, removes Iraq from the list of Muslim-majority countries from which travel is banned for 90 days, cutting the list down to Syria, Iran, Somalia, Yemen, Libya and Sudan. It also halts all refugee admissions to the U.S. for four months, but does not include an indefinite ban on refugees from Syria.

In the revised order, the administration has struck language that would have given preference to religious minorities, such as Christians from the Middle East, once refugee resettlement resumes, according to a senior administration official.

Trump’s initial order faced quick backlash, with protests breaking out across the country and many lawmakers speaking out against it.

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