Hawaii becomes first state to sue to block Trump’s revised travel ban

Hawaii is boldly challenging President Donald Trump’s revised travel ban to “protect its residents, its employers, its educational institutions, and its sovereignty against illegal actions,” according to the state’s lawsuit filed Wednesday.

Earlier in the day, U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson granted the state’s request to move forward with the case, setting a hearing for March 15, the day before the ban is scheduled to go into effect.

In addition to the amended complaint, the state on Wednesday filed a motion for a temporary restraining order against the ban.

With the filing, Hawaii becomes the first state to intervene in court against an executive order designed to replace the original Jan. 27 edict that barred the residents of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States. That order was blocked by a federal appeals court.

The new order, issued Monday, prohibits individuals from six countries if they lack valid U.S. visas. Several other changes — such as removing language offering preferential status to persecuted religious minorities — were made to the order in an effort to make it pass legal muster.

But state Attorney General Doug Chin said he doesn’t see much in the way of change.

“This second executive order is infected with the same legal problems as the first order — undermining bedrock constitutional and statutory guarantees,” the complaint says.

Specifically, the modified order violates the First and Fifth Amendments to the Constitution, as well as the Immigration and Nationality Act and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, among other regulations, the suit says.

The 38-page complaint says the executive order will have “profound effects” on Hawaii, preventing nationals of the six designated countries from relocating to or visiting the state for a variety of educational, family, religious or business reasons.

The University of Hawaii and the state’s other institutions of higher education, for example, will be hurt, according to the complaint. Hawaii currently has 27 graduate students, 10 permanent faculty members and 30 visiting faculty members from the seven countries targeted by the original order, it says.

The ban will help to weaken Hawaii’s economy by preventing both government and private entities from recruiting workers from the impacted countries, the complaint says.

In addition, it says, Hawaii will be unable to welcome tourists from those countries. In fact, tourism to the U.S. generally “took a nosedive” following the first order, and that’s something Hawaii can’t afford, according to the document.

“A decrease in national and international tourism would have a severe impact on Hawaii’s economy,” it asserts.

Beyond the direct impacts, Trump’s new executive order is “antithetical to Hawaii’s state identity and spirit,” according to the suit.

“For many in Hawaii, including state officials, the executive order conjures up the memory of the Chinese Exclusion Acts and the imposition of martial law and Japanese internment after the bombing of Pearl Harbor,” the suit says.

Stepping up as co-plaintiff is Ismail Elshikh, imam of the Muslim Association of Hawai‘i.

Elshikh couldn’t be reached for comment Wednesday, but the suit describes him as someone who believes that the new executive order targets Muslims because of their religious views and national origin.

Elshikh, an American citizen of Egyptian descent and father of five, has a personal reason for being involved: His mother-in-law from Syria has been trying to immigrate to Hawaii.

The last time the woman visited her family here was in 2005, when she stayed for one month. She has not met two of her grandchildren, according to the complaint, and only one of her Hawaii grandchildren even remembers meeting her then.

On Jan. 31 — after the first executive order was put in place — Elshikh was notified that his mother-in-law’s application for an immigrant visa had been put on hold, the complaint says. A month later, after the first executive order was halted, he was told the application had progressed to the next stage of the process and that an interview would be scheduled at an embassy overseas.

Under the new order, however, Elshikh fears his mother-in-law will, once again, be unable to enter the country, according to the complaint.

“The family is devastated,” it says.

Many members of Elshikh’s mosque have family and friends living in the countries listed in the new executive order, causing them to live in forced separation from them, the lawsuit says.

Elshikh, who holds a doctorate, said he feels that there is now “a favored and disfavored religion in Hawaii and the U.S.” as a result of the new order, according to the suit, and he fears that members of the mosque will not be able to associate as freely with those of other faiths.