Trump Muslim Ban Thwarted a Third Time

[Content Note: Islamophobia.]

The White House's attempts to get around court rulings staying their Muslim bans by adding countries that aren't predominantly Muslim didn't work exactly as they'd hoped.

Matt Zapotosky at the Washington Post reports:

A federal judge on Tuesday largely blocked the Trump administration from implementing the latest version of the president's controversial travel ban, setting up yet another legal showdown on the extent of the executive branch's powers when it comes to setting immigration policy.

The decision from Judge Derrick K. Watson in Hawaii is sure to be appealed, but for now, it means that the administration cannot restrict the entry of travelers from six of the eight countries that officials said were either unable or unwilling to provide information the U.S. wanted to vet their citizens.

The latest ban was set to fully go into effect in the early morning hours of October 18, barring various types of travelers from Syria, Libya, Iran, Yemen, Chad, Somalia, North Korea, and Venezuela. Watson's order stops it, at least temporarily, with respect to all the countries except North Korea and Venezuela.

...The measure was only put into effect after an extensive process in which the U.S. negotiated with other countries for information, and the list of countries affected now includes two countries that are not Muslim-majority: Venezuela and North Korea.

Challengers to the ban argue, though, that the additions are mainly symbolic: the ban only affects certain government officials from Venezuela, and very few people actually travel to the U.S. from North Korea each year. They note Trump himself promised a "larger, tougher, and more specific" ban — meaning the new version would have the same legal problems as the prior iterations.

Basically, the ruling is: Nice try, but we ain't buying it, pal. That's good news for now — but this is still far from over.