Washington AG Bob Ferguson says old injunction should block Trump’s new immigration order

President Trump’s new order limiting immigration should still be blocked by the injunction against his previous order, Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson said.

State attorneys will file a motion with U.S. District Judge James Robart sometime Thursday asking him to apply his injunction to the new order, which is due to take effect March 16.

“The president cannot unilaterally declare himself free of the court’s order,” Ferguson said. “That’s for the court to decide.”

The new executive order is narrower than the one Robart blocked in January, a restraining order was later upheld by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

But two key provisions are essentially the same, Ferguson said. The ban on refugees “is virtually identical” to the original order and although the new order drops the number of affected countries from seven to six, the language is almost the same.

Hawaii has filed suit against the new executive order, seeking a new injunction. “We’re asserting that we’ve already got one,” Ferguson said.

Ferguson said New York state also asked to join the state’s legal effort. Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey said the state is also joining fellow states in challenging the revised ban.

Asked if Washington would seek a contempt order against the president if he orders federal agencies to go ahead with the new restrictions, Ferguson said the state is “juggling many balls” on the case and wouldn’t decide that right away.

“One thing at a time,” he said.

Later in the day, Gov. Jay Inslee described the ongoing legal battle as “standing up for Washington and Washington values and the U.S. Constitution.”

He suggested the state could mount a court challenge to the president’s order cutting in half the number of refugees the country would accept, contending that change needed congressional approval. America has always been a place that welcomed refugees and didn’t become half as compassionate just because Trump became president, he said.

Robart on Thursday granted Oregon’s request to join Washington and Minnesota in the case opposing the travel ban.

Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum said the executive order has hurt Oregon, its residents, employers, agencies, educational institutions, health care system and economy.

Trump’s revised ban bars new visas for people from six predominantly Muslim countries: Somalia, Iran, Syria, Sudan, Libya and Yemen. It also temporarily shuts down the U.S. refugee program.

Unlike the initial order, the new one says current visa holders won’t be affected, and removes language that would give priority to religious minorities.

Hawaii Attorney General Douglas Chin said the state could not stay silent on Trump’s travel ban because of Hawaii’s unique culture and history. Hawaii depends heavily on tourism, and the revised ban would hurt the state’s economy, he said.

The courts need to hear “that there’s a state where ethnic diversity is the norm, where people are welcomed with aloha and respect,” Chin said.

He noted that the new travel ban order comes just after the 75th anniversary of the Feb. 19, 1942, executive order by President Franklin Roosevelt that sent Japanese Americans were sent to internment camps during World War II. That order was put in place after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Hawaii had an internment camp.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Thursday the administration believed the revised travel ban will stand up to legal scrutiny.

“We feel very confident with how that was crafted and the input that was given,” Spicer said.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman in a statement called the executive order “a Muslim ban by another name.”

Other states that have filed briefs supporting Washington’s initial lawsuit include California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Virginia.