Government Security News February 2017 Digital Edition

Outpouring of American and foreign citizens mobilize
against President’s “Executive Orders” to ban refugees
from U.S. for four weeks and Muslim nationals for 90 days
By Michele Waslin
In his first week as president, President
Donald Trump unleashed a
series of executive orders, thereby
launching his first strikes against
current and future immigrants and
refugees. In response, thousands
of Americans mobilized over the
weekend, demonstrating against the
President’s actions. Strong opposition
continues to come from foreign
leaders, Congressional leaders,
government bureaucrats, business
leaders, university presidents, and
others.
The far-reaching and highly problematic
executive orders on “Border
Security and Immigration Enforcement
Improvement” and “Enhancing
Public Safety in the Interior of
the United States” seek to radically
change immigration enforcement
along the U.S.-Mexico border and
throughout the entire country.
Friday’s “Protecting the National
from Terrorist Attacks by Foreign
Nationals” is intended to halt all
refugee admissions for at least four
months and bans nationals from
seven Muslim-majority countries
from entering the U.S. for at least 90
days. Additional executive orders
are expected in the coming days and
weeks.
Given the immediate impact of
the ban, Friday’s executive order
resulted in a great deal of confusion,
frustration, and anger across
the country and around the world.
When the executive order was made
public, large protests erupted at the
White House and at airports around
the country, including large numbers
of attorneys offering free legal
assistance and Members of Congress
leveraging pressure on immigration
officials.
On Friday night and Saturday, the
first travelers from the seven banned
countries arrived at U.S. airports
and were detained by Customs and
Border Patrol (CBP) agents. CBP
had not been issued clear guidance
as to how the executive order was
to be implemented, and as a result,
treatment of foreign nationals differed
by airport.
Among those detained and scheduled
to be returned to their home
8
countries were returning green card
holders who already live and work
in the U.S., as well as first-time green
card holders whose vetting was recently
completed, and temporary
visitors to the U.S. One detainee was
Hameed Khalid Darweesh, who
had worked with the U.S. military
as an interpreter in Iraq. As confusion
and frustration rose and family
members worried about their
detained loved ones, immigration
lawyers went to the airports to represent
those in detention.
The ACLU, National Immigrant
Law Center, and other legal organizations
immediately challenged
the executive order on behalf of
Darweesh and others, and Saturday
night a federal judge in the Eastern
District of New York issued a nationwide
stay of removal, preventing
the Trump administration from
deporting refugees and others who
had lawful authority to enter the
U.S. Similar lawsuits were filed in
other cities: in Boston, the federal
court prohibited the detention and
removal of all those subject to the
executive order but the order was