WASHINGTON (CBSNews) — President Trump’s revised travel ban goes into effect Thursday. It bars new visas for people from six predominantly Muslim countries and temporarily shuts down the U.S. refugee program.
Just like the original travel ban, version 2.0 is facing legal challenges.
Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson led the charge that brought Mr. Trump’s first travel ban to a grinding halt. He said he’s had his days in court with the first travel ban — and he won “each time.”
“Look, the original executive order was Keystone Kops. It was,” Ferguson told CBS News. “And that’s reflected in the chaos that was created in airports all around our country that your viewers saw day after day.”
The new executive order will ban travel from six countries, instead of seven, and it will no longer affect current visa holders. But on Thursday (Mar. 9), Ferguson told a judge the new order is “the same basic policies in a new form” and that the judge’s restraining order should still apply.
“The president does not get to decide if a new executive order is different enough — the court decides that,” Ferguson said in a press conference.
But the Justice Department and Attorney General Jeff Sessions have not wavered.
“The executive is empowered under the Constitution and by Congress to make national security judgments and to enforce our immigration policies in order to safeguard the American public,” Sessions said.
Top prosecutors from around the country still disagree, and earlier this week, Hawaii Attorney General Doug Chin immediately filed a new lawsuit to stop the new executive order.
“It’s saying that if you’re from one of these six countries — now six — you are presumptively a terrorist,” Chin said.
Ferguson says the fact that the president made changes to his order at all is significant
“It tells me even the president — even this president — has to respect the rule of law,” Ferguson said. “You can’t tweet your way out of a 9th Court of Appeals decision. It’s not the loudest voice that prevails in a courtroom, it’s the Constitution.”
On Friday (Mar. 10) night, the judge who issued the original restraining order told Ferguson he needs to file an amended complaint against the new travel ban. At least five state attorneys general are planning to do that on Monday.
