By SEUNG MIN KIM, ELIZA SHAPIRO and JOSH GERSTEIN | POLITICO
NEW YORK—A federal judge has blocked the deportation of citizens from seven countries who were detained at U.S. airports over the past day or so as a result of an executive order President Donald Trump issued Friday.
Advocates said 100-200 travelers from those Muslim-majority countries were being held for deportation at various airports around the U.S. as a result of Trump’s order, which was billed as an anti-terrorism measure. The detentions sparked protests outside many international airports, including John F. Kennedy Airport in New York and Dulles Airport outside Washington.
U.S. District Court Judge Ann Donnelly issued her injunction over the government’s objection during an emergency hearing Saturday night as several hundred people opposed to Trump’s order chanted and milled about outside the Brooklyn, N.Y., federal courthouse.
During the brief court session, the judge said it was difficult to see the harm in allowing the newly arrived immigrants to stay since they were being routinely admitted just a couple of days ago.
“If they had come in two days ago, we wouldn’t be here, am I right? … These are all people who have been through a vetting process,” the judge said.
“Explain to me how these petitioners won’t suffer irreparable damage if I don’t grant this stay?” Donnelly asked.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Susan Riley complained that the court proceeding was unduly rushed. “This has unfolded with such speed, we haven’t had an opportunity to address any of the important legal issues,” Riley said.
However, American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Lee Gelernt said the immigrants affected were essentially the victims of bad timing that caused them to be caught in limbo just as Trump’s order was being issued.
“These people were caught in transit,” Gelernt said. “The government is putting someone back on a plane to Syria now.”
Donnelly, an appointee of President Barack Obama, said she was freezing the status quo by blocking the deportations.
“The whole point of this hearing is to preserve the status quo. I don’t think it’s unduly burdensome to identify people we are talking about here,” the judge declared. “Nobody is to be removed in this class.”
The White House had no immediate comment on the legal setback for one of the new president’s signature policy moves. Justice Department spokespeople did not immediately indicate whether an appeal was planned.
Donnelly’s order does not appear to interfere with most of Trump’s directive, since the judge only moved to protect a limited number of individuals who were already on or were about to board flights to the U.S. when Trump signed his measure. Now, such travelers will likely be blocked from boarding flights in the first place.
Two other judges also stepped into the legal fray over the implementation of Trump’s executive order Saturday night. A federal judge in Alexandria, Va., issued an order barring the deportation of all green card holders being detained at Dulles Airport for 7 days. Judge Leonie Brinkema’s order also required that Customs and Border Protection grant lawyers access to those individuals.
In addition, a federal judge in Seattle blocked the deportation of two immigrants from the airport there until a hearing set for Friday.
The legal battle is now expected to move to a series of individual cases filed in New York, Chicago and elsewhere Saturday, where immigrants will be seeking to be released from detention to travel or settle in the U.S.
Donnelly, an appointee of President Barack Obama, acted on a petition filed early Saturday, seeking to release Hameed Khalid Darweesh and Haider Sameer Abdulkhaleq Alshawi from detention at JFK Airport. The case was filed by the ACLU, the International Refugee Assistance Project the National Immigration Law Center and a Yale Law School legal clinic.
Darweesh was released early Saturday afternoon, according to aides to New York Democratic Reps. Jerry Nadler and Nydia Velazquez, who went to JFK to try and free the men. Alshawi was released Saturday night, said a Nadler spokesman who indicated earlier that at least 10 others had been detained at the airport.
“We are pleased to announce that Hameed Khalid Darweesh has been released and can now be reunited with his family,” the two lawmakers said in a statement earlier Saturday. “This should not happen in America. We shouldn’t have to demand the release of refugees one by one. We must fight this executive order in the streets, in the courts, anywhere, anytime. We must resist. We must fight. We must keep working to keep America the land of the free and the home of the brave.”
Pandemonium over Trump’s new executive order erupted at airports nationwide on Saturday, with reports of dozens of immigrants and travelers stranded or turned back in Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., New York and Dallas as demonstrators flooded airports to denounce Trump’s directive. One Syrian Christian family who had been working with Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.) were detained at Philadelphia International Airport and then subsequently forced to leave, according to the congressman.
During a press conference at Dulles International Airport,… >>> Continued at POLITICO