Court allows partial enforcement of Trump travel ban

Last updated: November 13, 2017 at 23:04 pm

A US appeals court has allowed President Donald Trump's newest version of the travel ban to partially take effect.

The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals ruling will bar people from six Muslim-majority countries included in the travel ban who do not have a "bona fide" relationship with a person or entity in the US from entering the country.

The ban can't be enforced against people who have those relationships.

Hawaii sued to stop the latest ban, which was announced in September. Hours before it was set to take full effect last month, US District Judge Derrick Watson in Hawaii issued a ruling blocking the ban.

Watson found that the new ban, like the version before it, failed to show that nationality alone makes a person a greater security risk to the US

The policy applied to travellers from Chad, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Syria and Yemen plus some Venezuelan government officials and their families.

Rulings against the ban in Hawaii and later in Maryland apply only to the six Muslim-majority countries.

They did not affect the restrictions against North Korea or Venezuela, because the plaintiffs did not ask for that. The Maryland ruling was narrower than the Hawaii one in that it allowed enforcement against those with no US ties.

The US government appealed, saying the rulings thwarted Trump's efforts to keep the American people safe.

The 9th Circuit in San Francisco had blocked previous versions of the ban.