Denied US entry, 2 Iraqis sue against executive order

By Canberk Yuksel

NEW YORK

Pro-immigration lawyers in New York City sued Saturday to stall a travel ban enacted by President Donald Trump after two Iraqis were detained at John F. Kennedy International Airport and denied entry into the country despite having legal visas.

Legal teams from several immigration groups filed a civil lawsuit at a federal court in Brooklyn, according to media reports, as President Trump's executive order limiting refugee flow into the U.S. was put into immediate effect late Friday.

The president defended the action Saturday afternoon as he signed more actions, saying that it was not "a Muslim ban, but we are totally prepared.

"It's working out very nicely," Trump said. "You see it in the airports, you see it all over. It's working out very nicely and we are going to have a very, very strict ban and we are going to have extreme vetting, which we should have had in this country for many years."

Hundreds of protesters flooded the JFK airport Saturday, denouncing Trump's moves, chanting, "No hate, no fear, refugees are welcome here" and "No ban, no wall, sanctuary for all".

One of the Iraqi men, named in the lawsuit as Hameed Khalid Darweesh, was granted a special immigrant visa after working for the U.S. army for 10 years in Iraq.

The other individual, Haider Sameer Abdulkaleq Alshawi, received his visa earlier this month to join his wife in the U.S., who worked for a U.S. security contractor.

Darweesh, who was released later in the day, told media: “I suffered to move here, to get my family here …. I can’t go back."

The number of detentions rose to a dozen later Saturday at the JFK, but it wasn't immediately clear how many more scheduled to arrive in the U.S. were affected by the ban across the nation.

The ban includes green card holders, who otherwise have permanent residence in the U.S., Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Gillian Christensen told Reuters.

Trump signed an executive action Wednesday to deport undocumented immigrants involved in criminal activity, and another Friday that limits the flow of refugees into the U.S. as a measure against what he called "radical Islamic terrorists".

The second action reportedly involves a months-long entry ban on people from several blacklisted Middle Eastern countries, although President Trump said Christians living in Muslim-majority nations would be given priority to enter the U.S.