10 People Are Still Detained at JFK Airport Under Trump’s Muslim Ban: Pol
(DNAINFO) Michael P. Ventura, Katie Honan, Noah Horowitz and Irene Plagianos | January 29, 2017 — A day after nearly a dozen people were held at the airport, several have yet to be released.
Ten people were still being held at John F. Kennedy Airport on Sunday afternoon as part of President Donald Trump’s executive order against refugees and immigrantsfrom predominantly Muslim countries, a member of Congress said.
U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries spoke to reporters at the airport’s Terminal 4 Sunday afternoon and said that 10 people were still being detained inside. Earlier, he had told reporters that six people were being detained, but the number fluctuates as more people land at the airport and are held by authorities.
Seven people had previously been released, Jeffries said, but it was not immediately clear when or if the remaining 10 would be released.
Melanie Zuch, a lawyer for the Urban Justice League who has been working to secure the release of the detainees, said she and other attorneys at the airport expect more people to be detained as they arrive at JFK.
Trump on Friday signed an executive order blocking entry for all refugees from Syria indefinitely, and refugees from other countries for 120 days, and temporarily halted entry to New Yorkers and others with legal permanent resident status who come from one of the seven countries.
A Brooklyn federal judge on Saturday night issued a nationwide stay on Trump’s orderthat prevented the government from deporting refugees and immigrants entering the United States legally and with the proper paperwork.
Roughly a dozen people were detained at JFK Airport on Saturday, and they were slowly being released into Sunday.
One of those people released was Haider Sameer Abdukhaleq Alshawi, an Iraqi refugee whose wife worked as an accountant for the United States during the war there. His wife and son are already living here, and he was en route to join them when he was detained.
“When I see my son I’m going to hug him for a very long time,” he said.
Trump’s executive order touched off a wave of protests across the country, as well as at JFK airport, on Saturday.
More protests were planned for Sunday, both at the airport and at the Battery Park City offices of U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
“We are here because this executive order is totally unfair,” said Sony Dastgir, 56, from Long Island, who came to the airport Sunday to protest. He held up a sign that read: “Proud to be American Muslim”