ACLU Indiana on travel ban: The president is not all powerful
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — President Trump’s latest travel ban was supposed to go into effect on Thursday, but two judges have now blocked the order.
A judge in Hawaii blocked the order just hours before it was set to go into effect. A judge in Maryland echoed the decision on Thursday morning, blocking the 90-day ban on immigration from six Muslim-majority countries.
The order would have barred people from six countries from entering the United States. US District Court Judge Derrick Watson, in Hawaii, said allowing the travel restrictions to go into effect at midnight would have caused irreparable harm.
Watson pointed to statements made by President Trump and his advisers as evidence that the order was targeting Muslims.
“…a reasonable, objective observer-enlightened by the specific historical context, contemporaneous public statements, and specific sequence of events leading to its issuance would conclude that the Executive Order was issued with a purpose to disfavor a particular religion….in spite of its stated, religiously-neutral purpose,” said Watson in court documents.
President Trump and other supporters of the ban say it is not targeting Muslims, but instead protecting United States citizens. Trump said the six countries on the list were chosen because of their links to terror, which puts Americans at risk.
“The best way to keep foreign terrorists, or as some people would say in certain instances radical Islamic terrorists, from attacking our country is to stop them from entering our country in the first place,” said President Trump.
The executive director of ACLU Indiana said the second version of the ban was still targeting Muslims.
“That intent, that underlying intent has not changed. Even though they’ve cleaned up other parts from the original executive order, the underlying intent to ban Muslims from our country is still embedded in the order,” said Henegar, “The order still bans entry from this country from six Muslim-majority countries. The order taken as a whole, in the whole context of President Trump’s rhetoric throughout the campaign, after the campaign and even to this day…is inconsistent with our constitution.”
Henegar praised the checks and balances that, at least temporarily, stopped the order.
“Our constitutional protections are real because the court upholds them. Our constitutional structure creates a balance of powers. From the beginning our executive branch, the president, is not all powerful,” said Henegar.
President Trump spoke about the ruling at a rally in Nashville.
“We’re going to fight this terrible ruling. We’re going to fight this case as far as it needs to go, including all the way up to the Supreme Court,” said Trump, “This ruling makes us look weak which by the way we no longer are. Believe me.”
24-Hour News 8 reached out to the Indiana Republican Party for an interview. A spokesperson said he could not find anyone locally to speak on-camera and referred us to the White House for a statement.