Barely a week after President Trump announced a new and revised travel ban, human rights activist groups said on Friday that they will head to court to challenge the new proclamation.

According to CBS News reports, the Civil Rights organizations say the ban goes against the constitution and violates federal law.

In a letter to a federal Judge in Maryland on Friday, The American Civil Liberties Union(ACLU), wrote that they wished to amend their existing lawsuit to challenge the travel ban, which is the third by the Trump administration.

ACLU and other civil rights organizations had gone to court over the previous travel ban which expired, leading to the announcement of a revised ban.

Court challenge

In the two-page letter to the Judge, ACLU and other rights groups said they intend to request the court for a preliminary injunction or 'any other relief' that the court may deem fit, to suspend the visa and entry restrictions that were announced last weekend by Trump.

After the ACLU announcement on Friday, spokesman for the Justice Department, Ian Prior, in an email to AP, said that the DOJ would 'vigorously' defend the new proclamation in court.

The new travel ban will affect citizens from North Korea, Chad, Somalia, Syria, Iran, Libya, Yemen and Venezuelan government officials together with their families, and will take effect on October 18.

Ban process

Compared to the previous bans that the Trump administration has announced, the new proclamation does not have an expiry date like its predecessors.

It is more of a condition-based ban, where the citizens of the countries mentioned will be denied US visas until the conditions set are met.

The process of coming with the new travel ban was also different, as The Department of Homeland Security was widely consulted during the entire process. In doing so, officials hoped that when announced, the new ban will be more difficult to challenge in court.

Homeland Security came up with a set of requirements for the countries named in the travel ban. Each country had its own unique requirements it was supposed to meet to avoid being on the travel ban list.

A 50-day period was then given to the countries to try and meet the standards that had been set. Those that failed, the Acting DHS Secretary Elaine Duke, then forwarded their names to President Trump with recommendations for the new travel ban.

Since coming into office early this year, the Trump administration has announced three travel bans so far, which have elicited condemnation, resistance, and protests.
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