A U.S. federal judge late Thursday ruled that the Trump administration's travel ban could not stop grandparents and other close relatives of residents from entering the United States.

Judge Derrick K. Watson of the Federal District Court in Honolulu wrote in a decision that grandparents, grandchildren, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and cousins of persons in the United States will be considered to have sufficiently close family relationships to gain entry into the country.

Opponents of the travel ban cheered the ruling, while U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions said on Friday he would appeal it directly to the U.S. Supreme Court.

If the ruling stands, it will be another heavy blow that President Donald Trump has to suffer over his controversial travel ban.

In January -- a week after his inauguration -- Trump signed an executive order barring people from majority-Muslim Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen from entering the country for 90 days, and Syrians from entering until he decides otherwise.

However, the ban was quickly blocked by several courts, as judges believed Trump's decision was unconstitutional.

Last month, the Supreme Court finally greenlighted a scaled-back version of the travel ban. But it also pointed out that applicants who have a "bona fide relationship" with a person in the United States would be exempt from the ban, without specifying what kind of relationship qualifies as "bona fide."

The U.S. State Department said "bona fide relationships" include spouses, parents, parents-in-law, children, sons- and daughters-in-law, fiances and siblings. Grandparents, along with other relatives, should not be recognized as such.

Disagreeing with the administration's interpretation, Hawaii's Attorney General Doug Chin brought the issue to the court where Judge Watson found the interpretation incorrect.

"Common sense, for instance, dictates that close family members be defined to include grandparents," Watson said in his ruling. "Indeed grandparents are the epitome of close family members."

source: xinhua