Civil rights groups announced a new legal challenge to President Trump’s revised travel ban, saying that his attempt to add non-Muslim countries does little to change the underlying policy.
The American Civil Liberties Union, which was already fighting in court to block the travel ban, said it sent a notice to the judge asking that the case be shifted to cover the updated policy the president announced this weekend.
“President Trump’s newest travel ban is still a Muslim ban at its core, and it certainly engages in discrimination based on national origin, which is unlawful. Adding a few North Koreans and a tiny group of Venezuelan officials doesn’t paper over the original sin of the Muslim ban,” said ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero said. “We’ll see President Trump in court — again.”
The ACLU had won a halt to much of the president’s original travel policy in an appeals court ruling, but the Supreme Court in June revived the ban, in a limited fashion.
Courts are now trying to figure out how to deal with the latest updates. Briefs are due to the Supreme Court next week.
Mr. Trump dropped Sudan from his last travel ban and added Chad, North Korea and Venezuela, and kept Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen.
The changes came after a months-long review that found those countries didn’t provide enough information or cooperation for the U.S. to be comfortable with immigrants or visitors from there.
Anti-Trump opponents, though, say the entire exercise is colored by the president’s harsh rhetoric toward Muslims in the campaign.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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