President Donald Trump’s new travel ban has been blocked by a federal judge in Hawaii just hours before it was due to come into force.
US District Judge Derrick Watson cited ‘questionable evidence’ that the ban was a matter of national security, as argued by the US Government.
He said the court had established a strong likelihood that the ban, if implemented, would cause ‘irreparable injury’ by violating First Amendment protections against religious discrimination.
President Trump said the ruling was an ‘unprecedented judicial overreach’.
The recent order, revised from Trump’s initial order in January, wanted to place a 90-day ban on people from six mainly Muslim nations and a 120-day ban on refugees.
The earlier version had sparked confusion and protests at airports and was blocked by a judge in Seattle.
