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Watch Live: Trump Administration Defends the Travel Ban in Court

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President Trump And Republicans Hold Press Conference As House Passes Obamacare Repeal
U.S. President Donald Trump, left, and U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, center, arrive for a press conference in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Thursday, May 4, 2017. House Republicans mustered just enough votes to pass their health-care bill Thursday, salvaging what at times appeared to be a doomed mission to repeal and partially replace Obamacare under intense pressure from Trump to produce legislative accomplishments.Photograph by Andrew Harrer—Getty/Bloomberg
By Lisa Marie Segarra

The Justice Department will defend the second version of President Donald Trump’s travel ban in a federal appeals court Monday.

The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments from the Trump administration that the executive order is an effort to maintain national security and not a religious-based ban. The ban prohibits the issuing of new visas to to six-Muslim majority counties: Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

This will be the first time an appeals court will hear the case for the new travel ban, which will likely move on to the U.S. Supreme Court. Monday’s hearing comes after a federal judge in Hawaii blocked the travel ban and the freeze on the refugee program. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals refused to reinstate the initial order in February.

Even if the court sides with the administration, the block will remain in place unless another appeals court makes the same decision.

Watch the hearing live at 2:30 p.m. EDT.

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