President Trump's Newest Travel Ban Has Just Been Blocked By a Federal Judge

Katie Pavlich | October 17, 2017 4:10 PM

UPDATE: The White House has responded.

"Today’s dangerously flawed district court order undercuts the President’s efforts to keep the American people safe and enforce minimum security standards for entry into the United States. The Department of Justice will vigorously defend the President’s lawful action. The proclamation restricting travel was issued after an extensive worldwide security review by the Secretary of Homeland Security, and following consultation by the President with members of the Cabinet, including the Secretaries of Homeland Security, State, and Defense and the Attorney General. The entry restrictions in the proclamation apply to countries based on their inability or unwillingness to share critical information necessary to safely vet applications, as well as a threat assessment related to terrorism, instability, and other grave national security concerns. These restrictions are vital to ensuring that foreign nations comply with the minimum security standards required for the integrity of our immigration system and the security of our Nation. We are therefore confident that the Judiciary will ultimately uphold the President’s lawful and necessary action and swiftly restore its vital protections for the safety of the American people."

***Original Post***

President Trump's latest travel ban was set to go into effect at midnight tonight, but U.S. District Judge Derrick K. Watson of Hawaii had other plans.

Watson temporarily blocked the ban from being implemented Tuesday afternoon, arguing the new version doesn't properly address concerns of national security and therefore is still discriminatory. The ACLU sued the administration, saying Trump's efforts to mask a "Muslim ban" by adding countries North Korea and Venezuela wouldn't cut it.

A reminder on the details of the current and newest version of the ban:

Making America Safe is my number one priority. We will not admit those into our country we cannot safely vet.https://t.co/KJ886okyfC
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 24, 2017

President Trump issued an executive order Sunday night expanding travel restrictions from his previous travel ban to include additional countries.

Sudan has been dropped from the original travel ban list, while Iran, Libya, Syria, Yemen, and Somalia remain. North Korea, Chad and Venezuela have been added with varying levels of vetting and restrictions for each country. Citizens traveling from North Korea and Venezuela are not affected, only government officials.

According to the White House, a new "baseline for information sharing to support visa and immigration vetting determinations" has been established, requiring that foreign governments bolster identity management, issue secure passports, identify serious criminals, provide information on known or suspected terrorists and more.