Cities ask federal judge to keep Trump travel ban on hold

NEW YORK — Municipalities nationwide including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Minneapolis, and Skokie, Illinois, are urging a federal judge to continue blocking President Donald Trump's travel ban.

New York City's chief lawyer Zachary Carter filed papers Friday in federal court in Brooklyn on behalf of nearly three dozen cities. Carter and Senior Counsel Susan Greenberg say in the filing that the ban against seven predominantly Muslim countries damages the economies and cultures of the cities. They say it harms efforts to keep cities safe, including against terrorists.

The White House has said the order is necessary to protect against terrorism.

The papers were submitted in advance of a Tuesday hearing.

A federal appeals court in Seattle has upheld a stay of the ban in a case brought by Washington state and Minnesota.