The Latest: US to Appeal Travel Ban Ruling to Supreme Court

by The Associated Press, July 14, 2017

HONOLULU (AP) — The Latest on a judge's decision on President Donald Trump's travel ban (all times local):

8:20 a.m.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions says the Trump administration will appeal the latest travel ban ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court.

A federal judge in Hawaii on Thursday further narrowed how President Donald Trump's travel ban for certain foreigners and refugees can be applied.

The administration is choosing to bypass the San Francisco-based appeals court that has ruled against it in the case and return to the high court. Last month, the justices partially reinstated the ban affecting six Muslim-majority countries.

U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson ordered the government not to enforce the ban for foreigners who have close relatives in the United States such as grandparents, grandchildren, uncles and aunts.

He also ordered that refugees who have a relationship with a refugee aid agency in the U.S. cannot be blocked.

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7:40 a.m.

Refugee resettlement agencies say a federal judge's ruling on the President Donald Trump's travel ban could bring relief to more than 24,000 refugees who had already been vetted and approved by the United States.

Becca Heller, director of the International Refugee Assistance Project, said Friday that the ruling in Hawaii essentially lifts the president's temporary ban on refugees.

The judge in Hawaii ruled Thursday that refugees who have a formal relationship with a resettlement agency in the U.S. can be exempted from the travel ban based on last month's Supreme Court ruling.

The White House's homeland security adviser says Trump administration lawyers must take a close look at the judge's decision but that it appeared to be broad enough to "cover every refugee."

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6:35 a.m.

The White House's homeland security adviser says Trump administration lawyers must take a close look at a federal judge's ruling that further weakened the president's travel ban, but it appears to be broad enough to "cover every refugee."

Tom Bossert told reporters Friday that he doesn't believe that's the interpretation the Supreme Court intended when it allowed the travel ban to apply to anyone without a "bona fide relationship" with a person or an entity in the U.S.

The justices didn't define a bona fide relationship but said it could include a close relative, a job offer or admission to a college or university.

A judge in Hawaii on Thursday ordered the government not to enforce the ban on relatives such as grandparents, grandchildren, uncles and aunts.

Bossert says the ruling will have to be examined to figure out if it's "another productive or unproductive" step for the government.

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10:50 p.m.

In another setback for President Donald Trump, a federal judge in Hawaii has further weakened his already diluted travel ban by vastly expanding the list of family relationships with U.S. citizens that visa applicants can use to get into the U.S.

U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson on Thursday ordered the government not to enforce the ban on close relatives such as grandparents, grandchildren, uncles and aunts.

The ruling is the latest piece of pushback in the fierce fight set off by the ban Trump first attempted in January.

The current rules aren't so much an outright ban as a tightening of already-tough visa policies affecting citizens from six Muslim-majority countries. People from those countries who already have visas will be allowed into the country. The rules apply to new visas

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