A federal judge in New York has issued an emergency order temporarily barring the deportation of people from countries included in Donald Trump’s travel ban, saying detained travellers have a strong argument that their legal rights have been violated.
US district judge Ann Donnelly made the order after lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union filed a court petition on behalf of people from seven predominantly Muslim nations who were detained at airports across the country as the president’s ban took effect.
Her order affected only a portion of Trump’s executive action, with the three-page ruling saying without the stay “there will be substantial and irreparable injury to refugees, visa-holders and other individuals from nations subject to the January 27 2017 executive order”.
Cheers broke out in a crowd of demonstrators outside a Brooklyn court as her decision, effective nationwide, was announced.
Under the Trump order, it appeared that an untold number of foreign-born US residents now travelling outside the country could be stuck overseas for at least 90 days even though they held permanent residency “green cards” or other visas.
Love is what makes America great! This is happening at Dulles right now. #MuslimBan #Dulles #NoBanNoWall pic.twitter.com/WP3XrzeCeo
— Annabel Park (@annabelpark) January 29, 2017
Release of the first detainees #SFO #TheResistance pic.twitter.com/5BWXgxctU8
— Jeremy Daggett (@jeremy_daggett) January 29, 2017
But a Department of Homeland Security official said no green-card holders from the seven countries named in the order had been prevented from entering the US.The order sparked protests at several US airports, including New York’s Kennedy and Chicago’s O’Hare and those in Minneapolis and Dallas-Forth Worth.The Department of Homeland Security said the court ruling would not affect the overall implementation of the White House order and affected a relatively small number of travellers inconvenienced by security procedures.
