Judge: Revised Trump ban cannot be enforced on Syrian family

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A federal judge tonight blocked President Donald Trump's administration from enforcing his new travel ban against a Syrian family looking to escape their war-torn homeland by fleeing to Wisconsin.

The ruling likely is the first by a judge since Trump issued a revised travel ban Monday, according to a spokesman for the Washington state attorney general, who has led states challenging the ban.

A Syrian Muslim man who was granted asylum and settled in Wisconsin has been working since last year to win U.S. government approval for his wife and 3-year-old daughter to leave the devastated city of Aleppo and join him here. The man, who is not identified because of fears for his family's safety, filed a federal lawsuit in Madison in February alleging Trump's first travel ban had wrongly stopped the visa process for his family.

U.S. District Judge Michael Conley set that challenge aside after a federal judge in Washington state blocked the entire Trump travel order.

Trump signed a new executive order Monday. The Syrian man filed a new complaint this afternoon, alleging the new order is still an anti-Muslim ban that violates his freedom of religion and right to due process. He asked Judge Conley to block its enforcement against his family.

Judge Conley granted that request, saying there were daily threats to the Syrian man's wife and child that could cause "irreparable harm." He issued a temporary restraining order barring enforcement against the family. The order doesn't block the entire travel ban. It simply prevents Trump's administration from enforcing it against this family pending a March 21 hearing.