Trump's Ban Targeting Muslims Suspended by Federal Judge, Refugee Deportation Barred

A federal judge for New York’s Eastern District issued an emergency stay on Saturday night that temporarily halts President Donald Trump’s Friday executive order banning entry to the US from seven mostly Muslim countries.

Trump’s executive order led to widespread protests at airports around the country, and chaos as travelers from the blacklisted countries were detained, interrogated, and refused entry to the United States.

The lawyers who sued the government said the decision following an emergency hearing in a New York City courtroom could affect an estimated 100 to 200 people.

From the New York Times:

Judge Ann M. Donnelly of Federal District Court in Brooklyn, who was nominated by former President Barack Obama, ruled just before 9 p.m. that implementing Mr. Trump’s order by sending the travelers home could cause them “irreparable harm.”

Protestors gather outside Terminal 4 at JFK airport in opposition to U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposed ban on immigration in New York, Jan. 28, 2017. REUTERS/Joe Penney

More at The Verge.

The court ruled on a habeas corpus petition filed by the ACLU on behalf of Hameed Khalid Darweesh and Sameer Abdulkhaleq Alshawi, who were denied entry to the US upon landing at JFK airport in New York City and detained indefinitely by Customs and Border Patrol. Darweesh spent a decade working for the United States military in Iraq as an interpreter and engineer and had been granted an entry visa after background checks; Alshawi had been granted a visa in order to join his wife and son who are already permanent residents of the US after their similar service with the US military.

The court specifically ruled on Darweesh and Alshawi’s petition; other similarly-situated people being detained and those in transit are covered by the ruling, which is only temporary. But the point of a stay is to preserve the status quo while a permanent ruling is made — something the judge specifically reminded the lawyers for the goverment in the courtroom. And as the tweet from the National Immigration Law Center’s Jackie Vimo indicates above, the judge feels there is a likelihood of success on the merits for the case moving forward.

Tweets from attorneys and organizations involved in the fight to grant an emergency stay are below.