Trump Travel Ban 2.0: Hawaii First State To Challenge President's New Executive Order

Just two days after President Donald Trump signed a new executive order restricting travel to the United States from citizens of six Muslim-majority countries, the order is already facing trouble. The state of Hawaii plans to file a lawsuit Wednesday against the revised travel plan, becoming the first state to challenge it, CNN reported.

One of the lawyers for Hawaii also announced the state's decision to contest the ban on Twitter.

The revised executive order on immigration and travel that Trump signed Monday, being called "Trump Travel Ban 2.0," keeps the old 90-day ban on travel to the U.S. for citizens of Iran, Libya, Syria, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen, but excludes Iraq. It also keeps in place a ban on all refugees for 120 days.

Many immigrants' rights groups as well as state attorneys expressed concerns immediately after the new version of the executive order was signed but none had filed new lawsuits or amended their original filings. Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz from Hawaii expressed pleasure at his state being the first to do so.

"To be sure, the new executive order covers fewer people than the old one," Neal Katyal, one of the lead attorneys for Hawaii, told CNN in an interview. However, while pointing out the limitations of the ban, he said it still "suffers from the same constitutional and statutory defects."

The Justice Department said Monday the new executive order is "a lawful and proper exercise of presidential authority."

In a joint filing, Hawaii and the U.S. government have asked the judge for oral arguments in the case to be held on March 15, a day prior to the new travel ban coming into effect, according to CNN.

When Trump signed the first executive order Jan. 27, many states joined the legal battle against the ban. Washington, New York, Massachusetts and Virginia were the first ones to challenge the ban that caused chaos at airports in those states, as multiple media publications reported at the time.

Hawaii filed a suit against the earlier travel order on Feb. 3, saying it severely impacted its residents, businesses and universities, and was also violating the Constitution. However after the ban was halted by court, the suit filed by Hawaii was also paused, Reuters reported.