Supporters are pleased with Appeals Court’s judgment

Hawaii immigrant-rights supporters praised a U.S. Appeals Court decision Thursday to refuse to reinstate President Donald Trump’s travel ban on seven majority-Muslim countries, saying the decision will help restore the nation’s image as a democracy.

But the legal battle likely will continue with Trump indicating that his administration plans to appeal the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.

U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, said Trump should instead accept the court’s decision. “For all the chaos created by this executive order, the wiser course would be for President Trump to rescind this unconstitutional order immediately,” she said.

In a 3-0 vote Thursday, the Appeals Court refused to reinstate the travel ban, which had been blocked by a federal judge.

Plaintiff lawyers for the states of Washington and Minnesota argued that Trump’s ban was illegal for a number of reasons, including religious discrimination. Trump’s attorneys argued the president had the right to make the executive action based on separation of powers and that the order was meant to keep potential terrorists from entering the country.

Hakim Ouansafi, chairman of the Muslim Association of Hawaii, said the court’s decision is a prime example of how the American system works. He said the decision sends the message that United States’s values haven’t been hijacked by the far right and that the system works. “There are checks and balances,” he said.

Trump’s Jan. 27 executive order banned immigration for 90 days from Syria, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Yemen and Sudan.

Ouansafi said the decision has affected scores of immigrants, including some families in the state. “When you ban seven nations, you’re actually banning grandmothers from visiting their children … (and) children from receiving medical attention,” he said.

Ouansafi said many affected immigrants are reluctant to speak out for fear of retaliation by the federal government.

Hawaii Republican Party Chairman Fritz Rohlfing supported the president “in his efforts to secure our borders and to keep Americans safe at home,” and he noted that the court “did not take issue with the president’s power to issue the executive order in the first place.”

University of Hawaii professor Ibrahim Auode said the court’s decision shows how democracy, including the Bill of Rights, is entrenched within the American people. “This kind of haphazard executive order really flies in the face of everything that’s good about the United States and its people,” said Auode, a Palestinian immigrant and former chairman of the University’s Department of Ethnic Studies.

Hawaii Attorney General Douglas Chin called the Appeals Court decision a victory for Americans. “Hawaii’s interests in stopping actions that discriminate against persons strictly based upon national origin and religion are protected for now, but this case is not over,” he said.

The state filed a lawsuit in federal court alleging Trump’s order violates several federal statutes, including the First Amendment, equal protection under the law, and the right to due process. Federal District Judge Derrick Watson stayed the lawsuit Tuesday, pending the outcome of the nationwide injunction.