The US state of Hawaii has issued an order allowing grandparents and other family members of citizens hailing from six Muslim-majority countries to travel to the United States.
The Friday court order is a renewed bid by Hawaiian officials to defy President Donald Trump’s travel ban on Muslims.
In January, President Trump issued a temporary ban on travel from six Muslim-majority countries which sparked protests and chaos at airports around the country and the world.
Opponents of the ban, including states and refugee advocacy groups, sued to stop it, arguing that the controversial ban discriminated against Muslims traveling from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
Last month, the US Supreme Court ruled in favor of the administration.
The Court, however, limited the scope of the Muslim ban, saying it could not apply to anyone with a credible “bona fide relationship” with a US person or entity.
In reaction to the ruling, the Trump administration ordered last week that spouses, parents, children, fiancés and siblings would be exempt from the ban, while grandparents and other family members would be barred.
Earlier this week, Hawaiian state officials had asked a Honolulu judge for a court order clarifying the Supreme Court’s ruling to allow grandparents into the United States. The judge, along with the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals, ruled that the lower courts did not have the power to simply clarify the Supreme Court’s rulings.
However, the 9th Circuit on Friday said the courts could issue an injunction against Trump’s policy in the future, if the government misapplied the Supreme Court’s ruling to a particular person or entity harmed by the travel ban.
Hours after that ruling, Hawaiian state officials made such an injunction request in a Honolulu federal court.
Hawaii said the state itself, along with refugees resettlement agencies, were harmed by Trump’s order because they were prevented from helping refugees move there.
In the court filing on Friday, Hawaii’s attorney general had asked the Honolulu judge, who concurred with state officials, to issue the order allowing grandparents and other family members of Muslims from the banned countries to travel to the United States.
Rights group Amnesty International has condemned Trump’s ban. – Press TV.
