A federal judge in Hawaii on Thursday denied a motion filed by the state of Hawaii that challenged President Donald Trump’s travel ban on six Muslim-majority countries, asking to expand the exceptions for visa applicants, The Hill reports.
U.S. District Court Judge Derrick Watson, appointed by former President Barack Obama in 2013, denied the emergency motion filed Wednesday that asked for a clarification of the U.S. Supreme Court’s use of the phrase “bona fide” when describing relationships.
Visa applicants from specific countries must now prove a “bona fide” familial relationship to be accepted. The state argues that the White House interpreted the definition of close family members too narrowly.
Hawaii’s challenge sought to expand the exemptions to include “grandparents, grandchildren, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, and cousins of people currently living in the United States”.
According to a report by The Associated Press, Watson says the relationship question should be posed before the Supreme Court, not himself.
The Trump administration had said the exemption to the ban would apply to citizens of the six countries with a parent, spouse, child, adult son or daughter, son-in-law, daughter-in-law or sibling already in the U.S.
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