Donald Trump‘s latest attempt at litigated xenophobia has been halted – temporarily by a federal judge in Hawaii.
U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson said in his ruling according to Bloomberg ‘that a reasonable person would conclude that the “stated secular purpose” of the order is “secondary to a religious objective” of temporarily suspending the entry of Muslims.’
This second ban comes after Trump’s first attempt was struck down by a federal appeals court in San Francisco citing the unconstitutionally of it. Although more sugar-coated, the latest attempt at banning immigration and refugees into the country for 90-days still focuses on six Muslim majority countries in Iran, Syria, Yemen, Libya, Somalia and Sudan. Iraq which was in the first attempted ban was removed from the list.
Much of the criticism towards Trump’s ban stems from his divisive campaign rhetoric where he specifically stated banning Muslims from coming into the country. Not to mention there was zero basis for initiating this latest ban.
It’s assumed the Trump administration will appeal the latest halt.