President Trump Vows To Appeal Md. Judge Ruling Blocking Revised Travel Ban

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- The Trump Administration vows to appeal the ruling by a federal judge in Maryland, which has halted the president's revised executive order, temporarily banning Muslim immigrants from six Muslim-majority countries.

Maryland district court Judge Theodore Chuang issued a blistering ruling blocking President Trump's revised travel ban. A victory for immigrant rights groups and Maryland's ACLU.

"He can bluster from now until the cows come home, but in a country governed by a constitution that guarantees all religions and all people equal treatment, he simply can't do what he wants to do," says David Rocha with the ACLU of Maryland.

It's the second blow for President Trump.

A judge in Hawaii also blocked his executive order barring some immigrants from six predominantly Muslim countries, saying it targeted them based on religion.

"We truly thought it was discriminatory and a violation of the constitution," says Hawaii's Governor Dave Ige.

The president went on the attack.

"An unprecedented judicial overreach," says President Trump.

In Maryland, Judge Chuang said the president's own past comments showed this was not about national security.

Chuang wrote, "These statements, which include explicit, direct statements of president trump's animus towards Muslims and intention to impose a ban on Muslims entering the United States, present a convincing case that the first executive order was issued to accomplish as nearly as possible, President Trump's proposed Muslim ban."

"You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig," says Dr. Zainab Chaudry, with CAIR, Council on American–Islamic Relations.

"We're optimistic that hopefully our judicial system can push back against it and do away with it once and for all," says Dr. Chaudry.

The state of Maryland is also suing the Trump administration over the travel ban, and that lawsuit is being decided in Washington state and the judge there has yet to make a ruling.

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