The US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit [official website] on Wednesday granted a temporary restraining order to an Afghan man trying to enter the US on a Special Immigration Visa, which are granted to those who have assisted the US military in Afghanistan. Earlier in the week, Judge Linares [official website] of the US District Court for the District of New Jersey had ruled to allow the deportation [order, PDF], saying that the Afghan man “voluntarily withdrew his application for admission to the United States” and gave up his Special Immigration Visa when he was questioned at Newark International Airport. And because the unnamed Afghan man no longer possessed a valid visa, the court lacked jurisdiction to grant a temporary restraining order.

Also on Wednesday, a federal judge in Hawaii issued [JURIST report] a temporary restraining order against President Donald Trump’s new travel ban barring entry to the US for people from six Muslim-majority nations in Africa and the Middle East. A federal judge in Maryland made a similar ruling early Thursday. Earlier in the week, five states, including California, [JURIST report] joined a lawsuit arguing that the ban is based on racial and religious discrimination. Last week a judge allowed [Reuters report] a similarly situated Afghan family to enter the nation after they were held at the Los Angeles International Airport for nearly two days.