Visa holders from seven majority-Muslim countries who were turned away from the United States due to President Donald Trump’s travel ban are hoping to make it through a narrow window opened by legal challenges.
The federal appeals court in San Francisco denied Mr. Trump’s effort to immediately reinstate the ban early on Sunday. For now, it remains blocked by a judge’s temporary restraining order, and federal officials have told their staff to comply.
Advocates weren’t taking any chances, telling people who could travel to get on the earliest flights they could find after the week-old ban was blocked Friday by U.S. District Judge James Robart in Seattle.
ADVERTISEMENT
“We’re telling them to get on the quickest flight ASAP,” said Rula Aoun, director of the Arab American Civil Rights League in Dearborn, Michigan. Her group sued in federal court in Detroit, challenging Mr. Trump’s executive order as unconstitutional. Protesters sought to keep up the pressure, gathering in Denver and other U.S. cities to demonstrate against the ban. Meanwhile, legal advocates waited at airports in case anything went wrong with new arrivals.
Renee Paradis was among 20-25 volunteer lawyers and interpreters who stationed themselves inside John F. Kennedy’s Terminal 4 in New York in case anyone needed help. They were carrying handmade signs in Arabic and Farsi “that say we’re lawyers, we’re here to help. We’re not from the government”, Ms. Paradis said.
ADVERTISEMENT
Some people have had to make hard choices. A Yemeni family expected to arrive at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Sunday from Egypt after leaving two of their four children behind. The father and two children are U.S. citizens and the mother has an immigrant visa, but the other two children don’t have their papers yet. In New York, 33-year-old Sudanese doctor Kamal Fadlalla rejoiced — after a week blocked in his home country, he was back in the Big Apple with friends and colleagues. In Tehran, a 30-year-old Iranian woman told AFP she had rebooked her tickets to the United States and was ready to travel late Sunday to see her brother.
Mr. Trump, known for his early morning tweet storms, did not offer an immediate comment about the ruling, but Vice-President Mike Pence, who made the rounds on Sunday's TV political talk shows, called the decision “frustrating”. “We will move very quickly,” Mr. Pence told Fox News. “We are going to win the arguments because we will take the steps necessary to protect the country, which the President of the United States has the authority to do.” — AP, AFP