SEATTLE — U.S. District Judge James Robart in Seattle has granted Oregon's request to join Washington and Minnesota in their lawsuit opposing President Donald Trump's travel ban.
Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum asked to intervene in the lawsuit on Feb. 22, arguing that it is harmed the state in the same way as Washington claims.
She says the executive order has hurt Oregon, its residents, employers, agencies, educational institutions, health care system and economy.
She adds that the travel ban forces Oregon to violate its own laws against discrimination.
Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey says her state is joining Washington state's lawsuit against President Trump's revised travel ban.
The Democrat said President Trump's travel ban "remains a discriminatory and unconstitutional attempt to make good on his campaign promise to implement a Muslim ban."
Healey said Thursday, March 9th that she decided to consolidate legal efforts by joining other states, led by Washington, to challenge what she called the administration's "unlawful immigration policies."
Healey's office has voluntarily dropped its case in Massachusetts against the first version of the travel ban.
Other states opposed to the travel ban are consolidating their efforts with the Washington state lawsuit.
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said in a statement Thursday that his office is also joining the lawsuit.
He is calling the revised executive order "a Muslim ban by another name."
A religious leader's mother-in-law living in Syria is playing a large part in Hawaii's lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump's travel ban.
Imam Ismail Elshikh of the Muslim Association of Hawaii is a plaintiff in the state's challenge. He says the ban will prevent his Syrian mother-in-law from visiting him.
Hawaii Attorney General Douglas Chin says people like Elshikh's mother-in-law have fewer rights than U.S. citizens.
But Chin says the imam is a U.S. citizen, has rights and would be prevented from seeing his mother-in-law.
The mother-in-law is awaiting approval of a visa to see her relatives in Hawaii.
Chin says the woman and others have become victims because of the ban's "standardless set of waivers and exceptions that weren't set by Congress."
White House spokesman Sean Spicer says the administration is confident the revised U.S. travel ban will stand up to legal scrutiny.
The state of Hawaii was the first state to sue after President Trumps' revised travel ban was announced Monday. Hawaii says the ban would be harmful to its Muslim community and the island state's tourism economy.
Spicer said during the White House briefing Thursday that administration officials "feel very confident with how that was crafted and the input that was given."
Trump issued the revised executive order after a federal judge in Seattle issued a temporary restraining order halting the initial travel ban order after Washington state and Minnesota sued. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that decision.
Washington state is asking a judge to extend his order to block the revised ban.