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Why is Hawaii suing the US government? You guessed it, Trump's travel ban

Hawaii has gathered a team of lawyers and filed a lawsuit against the US government, which claims Donald Trump's revised travel ban will hurt the state's Muslim population, impact tourism and foreign students.

Hawaii has gathered a team of lawyers and filed a lawsuit against the US government, which claims Donald Trump’s revised travel ban will hurt the state’s Muslim population, impact tourism and foreign students.

The case was submitted to a federal court in Honolulu on Wednesday, less than two days after the President released details of the new Executive Order.

Several changes were made to the original order, including the removal of one of the seven countries (Iraq), exemptions to refugees already in transit to the United States and a nine day roll over period.

Image: Donald Trump/Twitter

Image: Donald Trump/Twitter

Despite the adjustments, Hawaii’s attorneys said that the travel ban still carries religious discrimination and goes against state and federal constitutions.

The state argued the new version of the ban would not only prevent locals with family in targeted countries from reuniting, it would also affect Hawaii’s economy, which relies on its domestic and international tourism, The Guardian reported.

“Given that the new executive order began life as a ‘Muslim ban’, its implementation also means that the state will be forced to tolerate a policy that disfavours one religion and violates the establishment clauses of both the federal and state constitutions.”

Hawaii’s lawsuit reads

Douglas Chin, Hawaii’s attorney general, continued by saying that there’s nothing of substance in Trump’s revisions and described it as “the same blanket ban on entry from Muslim-majority countries”.

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“Hawaii is special in that it has always been non-discriminatory in both its history and constitution,” Douglas Chin said.

“Twenty percent of the people is foreign-born, 100,000 are non-citizens and 20 percent of the labour force is foreign-born.”

Judge Derrick Watson granted Hawaii to file a restraining order on the revised ban and has given the government until 13 March to file a response. Hawaii will meet the United States government in court on 15 March, hours before the new travel ban kicks in.

What are your thoughts on the ban?