The administration of US President Donald Trump has defended his proposed travel ban against citizens of several Muslim countries at an appeals court.
A panel of 13 judges on the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, reconvened on Monday to hear the government’s arguments in defense of the ban, presented by Acting US Solicitor General Jeffrey Wall.
The judges, mostly appointed by Democratic presidents, started immediately by questioning Wall about Trump’s campaign pledges of a “total and complete shutdown” of Muslims entering the US.
It was based on the same remarks that federal judges in Maryland and Hawaii ruled against the implementation of the ban in February and its revised version in March.
While the Maryland injunction only applies to rejecting visa applications from Iran, Syria, Iraq, Libya, Yemen and Sudan for 90 days, the Hawaii ruling goes further and blocks Trump’s order to halt all refugee admissions for the same…