HONOLULU (AP) — In another setback for President Donald Trump, a federal judge in Hawaii has further weakened his already diluted travel ban by vastly expanding the list of family relationships with U.S. citizens that visa applicants can use to get into the U.S. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that the ban on people seeking to travel to the United States from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen may not be enforced against those who have a "bona fide relationship" to people in the United States. U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson ordered the U.S. not to enforce the travel ban on grandparents, grandchildren, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and cousins of people in the U.S.

“Common sense, for instance, dictates that close family members be defined to include grandparents,” Watson said in his ruling. In his ruling, Watson took aim at how the administration defines a close familial relationship, writing, "[T]he Government's definition represents the antithesis of common sense. “An assurance from a United States refugee resettlement agency, in fact, meets each of the Supreme Court’s touchstones: it is formal, it is a documented contract, it is binding, it triggers responsibilities and obligations, including compensation, it is issued specific to an individual refugee only when that refugee has been approved for entry by the Department of Homeland Security, and it is issued in the ordinary course, and historically has been for decades,” Watson explained. Attorney General Jeff Sessions vowed Friday to appeal a federal judge's ruling late Thursday that the Trump administration’s implementation of its travel ban impacting citizens of six Muslim-majority nations is “unduly restrictive,” and that the government’s definition of “close familial relationship” contradicts the Supreme Court order that exempted visa applicants who could establish a “bona fide” relationship with citizens or entities of the United States. The Trump administration defined the relationship as those who had a parent, spouse, fiance, son, daughter, son-in-law, daughter-in-law or sibling already in the U.S.

Watson enlarged that group to include grandparents, grandchildren, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and cousins. “It’s really going to depend on how the administration reacts to this.”

Attorney General Jeff Sessions said the administration will ask the Supreme Court to weigh in, bypassing the San Francisco-based 9th U.S Circuit Court of Appeals, which has ruled against it in the case. In his ruling, Watson touted the superiority of his own definition above that of the Trump administration, asserting: “The Government’s definition represents the antithesis of common sense. Hawaii Attorney General Douglas S. Chin, who represents the state as the plaintiff in the case said the court made clear “that the U.S. government may not ignore the scope of the partial travel ban as it sees fit.”

“Family members have been separated and real people have suffered enough,” Chin said in a statement. Image of court: Screenshot of District Court of Hawaii website

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Hawaii District Judge Derrick Watson extends the definition of "close family members" to include grandparents, aunts, and uncles, thereby exempting them from President Donald Trump's travel ban on six Muslim-majority nations.