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| Department of Homeland Security suspends Muslim ban following judge order | Department of Homeland Security suspends Muslim ban following judge order |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The Department of Homeland Security has suspended all enforcement of the Muslim ban signed by Donald Trump. | |
| Immigrants will be once more allowed into the US from the seven countries affected by the executive order last Friday: Syria, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Yemen, Sudan and Somalia. | Immigrants will be once more allowed into the US from the seven countries affected by the executive order last Friday: Syria, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Yemen, Sudan and Somalia. |
| The move follows a nationwide ban of the executive order from federal judge James Robart in Washington. | |
| The 60,000 or so visas that had been revoked will be handed back to their holders, the state department announced. | |
| The caveat applies to those whose visas had been physically stamped or taken away - they will have to reapply. | |
| The dramatic move to suspend the enforcement of the ban comes just eight days after the executive order was signed by the President, which immediately instructed agencies and airports across the US to no longer allow nearly all travellers from the seven countries into the US. | |
| The order prompted massive protests around the country and at least four states and three large civil rights organisations filed lawsuits. | |
| In Michigan, for example, a judge clarified the order to make sure the ban did not affect law abiding, permanent residents of the US. | |
| But it was in Seattle, Washington, that a lawsuit filed by state attorney general Bob Ferguson brought about a nationwide suspension of the ban. | |
| Judge Robart ruled in favour of Mr Ferguson. | |
| It is not a done deal, however - the case could go all the way to the Supreme Court before a final decision is made. | |
| "No one is above the law," said Mr Ferguson. "Not even the President." | |
| Mr Trump called the ruling from the "so-called" judge "ridiculous". | |
| Mr Robart was sworn in with almost unanimous consent from the Senate under George W Bush. | |
| White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer quickly released a statement on Friday evening to say the Justice Department would enforce an emergency stay of the executive order "at the earliest time possible". | |
| He called the judge ruling "outrageous" but then, minutes later, edited out the word from the statement and said the government would adhere to the court's ruling until the Justice Department intervenes. | |
| Mr Ferguson also filed lawsuits against former President Barack Obama, and insisted his lawsuit was not a partisan issue. | |
| "We are a nation of laws," he told CNN on Friday evening. | |
| The executive order had sought to indefinitely suspend Syrian refugees, ban all travelers from the seven countries for 90 days and refugees for 120 days. | |
| It also wanted to develop a "uniform screening procedure" for all immigrants from around the world, prompting legal experts to threaten this wording, if interpreted literally, could shut down all immigration and tourism. | |
| Clarity on dual nationals was only given on Friday - the ban did not apply to them - and the ban caused chaos and confusion in Mexico and Canada. |