A United States federal judge in Hawaii has suspended President Donald Trump's new travel ban order.

District Judge Derrick Watson announced his ruling Wednesday. The state of Hawaii had appealed to the court for a temporary restraining order on the ban.

The judge’s ruling prevents the president’s order from going into effect Thursday.

Several states are trying to stop the ban. Federal courts in Maryland and Washington state also heard arguments about the ban on Wednesday.

Hawaii argued that the ban discriminates on the basis of nationality. It said the ban would prevent Hawaiians from receiving visits by relatives from the six mostly Muslim countries included in the ban.

The state also said the ban would harm its tourism industry and the ability to recruit foreign students and workers.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer did not comment when asked about the judge's order.

I'm Caty Weaver.

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Words in This Story

discriminate - v. to unfairly treat a person or group of people differently from other people or groups

tourism - n. the activity of traveling to a place for pleasure

recruit - v. to find suitable people and get them to join a company, an organization, the armed forces, etc.