by Donald Wood
Last updated: 10:00 AM ET, Thu March 9, 2017
On Wednesday, Hawaii became the first state to file a lawsuit against U.S. President Donald Trump's revised travel ban.
According to The Associated Press, state attorneys in Hawaii filed the lawsuit against the U.S. government in a federal Honolulu court, stating that the travel ban will harm its Muslim population, tourism and foreign students.
Hawaii also sued the government over President Trump's previous travel ban.
"Hawaii is special in that it has always been non-discriminatory in both its history and constitution," Attorney General Douglas Chin told The AP. "Twenty percent of the people are foreign-born, 100,000 are non-citizens and 20 percent of the labor force is foreign-born."
The state government has allotted an estimated $150,000 for an outside law firm to assist with the lawsuit, which Chin says the Hawaiian people support because the ban is "distasteful."
A Honolulu judge ruled Wednesday that the state can move forward with the lawsuit.
[READMORE] READ MORE Trump Slump Continues to Dampen US Travel Bookings [/READMORE]
President Trump's revised executive order goes into effect March 16 and will bar new visas for people from six predominantly Muslim countries (Iran, Syria, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen and Libya) while temporarily shutting down the U.S. refugee program.
A hearing has been set for March 15, when Hawaiian officials will argue that the judge should impose a temporary restraining order preventing the ban from taking effect until the lawsuit has been resolved.
For the latest travel news, updates and deals, subscribe to the daily TravelPulse newsletter.
Topics From This Article to Explore
