Muslim group files lawsuit against Donald Trump’s travel ban

A Muslim civil rights group is joining the legal battle to overturn President Donald Trump’s travel ban directed at seven Muslim-majority nations.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations filed a lawsuit Monday in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, challenging Trump’s executive order. The lawsuit characterizes the ban as a first step in fulfilling Trump’s campaign promise to impose “a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States” until the government “can figure out what is going on.”

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Trump’s order suspends immigration for citizens of the seven countries for 90 days. Trump has said the action is being falsely characterized as a “Muslim ban.”

A judge at the Alexandria courthouse already had issued a restraining order against the administration in response to a similar lawsuit filed over the weekend.

WATCH: President Trump’s travel ban sparks panic abroad, lawsuits 

2:33 President Trump’s travel ban sparks panic abroad, lawsuits