Federal Judge Says Trump Travel Ban Can't Keep Out Grandparents And Other Family Members

The federal judge in Hawaii who initially put President Trump's revised travel and refugee ban on hold on Thursday placed limits on the administration's recent rules enforcing a limited version of that ban.

The US Supreme Court allowed a portion of Trump's March 6 executive order to go into effect in a June 26 ruling. Hawaii, though, had argued that the federal government's interpretation of the Supreme Court's ruling — which exempted those with a "bona fide relationship" with people or entities in the US from being banned — was too narrow.

The federal government cannot use the executive order to "exclude grandparents, grandchildren, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, and cousins of persons in the United States," US District Judge Derrick Watson ruled, agreeing with Hawaii.

Watson also placed additional restrictions on which potential refugees can be excluded under the order. Specifically, Watson ruled that a potential refugee's "assurance from a United States refugee resettlement agency" constitutes the sort of "bona fide relationship" that bars enforcement of the executive order against that would-be refugee.