Politician who challenged President Trump's travel ban says: 'I'll be on right side of history'

Hawaii politician Doug Chin took his opposition to President Donald Trump’s ruling to the US Supreme Court.

Hawaiian Doug Chin spoke to 1 NEWS in his state capital ahead of a landmark decision from the US Supreme Court on President Donald Trump's travel ban. 

An outspoken politician who challenged President Trump’s travel ban says he’ll be on the “right side of history” no matter what happens.

Hawaii Luietenant Governor Doug Chin was speaking in Honolulu at the weekend as he waited for the verdict to come through. The US Supreme Court today upheld Trump's ban on visitors from five countries.

He was Hawaii’s Attorney-General when Trump declared people from seven Muslim-majority nations were banned from entering America and filed a lawsuit within a week of the Executive Order coming down.

Mr Chin says he’s been described as an “activist Attorney-General” for taking the action.

But coming from a state where one-fifth of its citizens were born overseas he says he can’t sit by and do nothing.

The ban targets people from several Muslim-majority countries, and was previously declared unconstitutional.

“If we do not say something now then we are going down a road I never want to be on. No matter what now, I’m on the right side of history. I want to tell my kids that.”

He says there are parallels with the current deportation scandal.

“Americans must stand up and stop that too,” he said.

Mr Chin is running for Congress this year, “because of what I’ve seen happening”.

“Courts can do a lot, but only so much.”

He says he’s concerned about the shift in America’s culture and identity under President Trump - he believes America has taken a giant leap backwards.

* Katie Bradford is travelling in Hawaii and South-East Asia as a Jefferson Fellow, thanks to the East-West Centre and Asia NZ Foundation.

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