Donald Trump hails immigration ban as passengers turned back from US-bound flights
Updated
President Donald Trump has said his sweeping ban on people from seven Muslim-majority nations entering the United States is working out well, with several travellers detained and others barred from boarding US-bound flights.
Key points:
- Trump denies immigration halt is a Muslim ban
- Lawyers fielding calls from students and workers being denied entry
- Homeland Security confirms ban extends to green card holders as well
- Adviser Kellyanne Conway praises Trump as a man of "action and impact"
The new Republican President yesterday put a four-month hold on allowing refugees into the US and temporarily barred travellers with passports from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen, a move Mr Trump said would protect Americans from terrorism.
The immigration ban also extends to green card holders who are granted authorisation to live and work in the US, plunging many into despair at the prospect of being unable to return to America or being separated from family members trapped abroad.
"It's working out very nicely. You see it at the airports, you see it all over," Mr Trump said, after denying the immigration halt was a Muslim ban.
A Syrian family with visas to travel to the US was prevented from boarding a flight bound from Paris to Atlanta on Saturday, and returned to their departure airport of Beirut, Lebanese airport sources said.
Cairo airport officials said five Iraqi passengers and one Yemeni were barred from boarding an EgyptAir flight to New York despite holding valid US visas.
Two Iraqi men, a former US government worker and the husband of a former US security contractor, who had visas to enter America, were also detained on Friday night (local time) at a New York airport.
One of the men has since been released, and immigration lawyers have lodged a lawsuit on their behalf.
Two travellers with dual Canadian and Iranian citizenship were also barred from boarding planes in Canada that were headed to the US, officials said.
The executive order prompted fury from Arab travellers in the Middle East and North Africa who said it was humiliating and discriminatory, while drawing widespread criticism from US Western allies including France and Germany, Arab American groups, and human rights organisations.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's message for refugees rejected by Mr Trump was simple — Canada will take you.
Mr Trudeau tweeted: "To those fleeing persecution, terror & war, Canadians will welcome you, regardless of your faith. Diversity is our strength #WelcomeToCanada".
He also tweeted a picture of him greeting a Syrian child at Toronto's airport.
Mr Trudeau oversaw the arrival of more than 39,000 Syrian refugees soon after he was elected in late 2015.
Iran said it would stop US citizens from entering the country in in retaliation for a ban.
Iran's foreign ministry said it will implement a "principle of reciprocity until the offensive US limitations against Iranian nationals are lifted".
Fears families will be separated
The ban does not apply to diplomats, but a Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman confirmed it extended to green card holders.
It was unclear how many people would be affected, but officials said it did not apply to people already in the US.
Exceptions can be made on a case-by-case basis.
"I never thought something like this would happen in America," said Mohammad Hossein Ziya, 33, who came to the US in 2011 after being forced to leave Iran for his political activities.
Mr Ziya, who lives in Virginia, has a green card and planned to travel to Dubai next week to see his elderly father.
"I can't go back to Iran, and it's possible I won't be able to return here, a place that is like my second country," he said.
Saleh Taghvaeian, 36, who teaches agricultural water management at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, said he feared his wife will not be able to return from Iran after a visit.
"In Iran they're not being allowed to get on the airplane," he said.
Immigration lawyers worked through the night, including inside airports, to help stranded travellers and enforcement at entry points was uneven.
"Just because Trump signed something at 6:00pm yesterday, things are coming to a crashing halt," said Mana Yegani, an immigration lawyer in Houston.
"It's scary."
She and fellow lawyers worked all night fielding calls from travellers with student and worker visas who were being denied entry into the US and ordered on flights back to the Muslim-majority countries.
"These are people that are coming in legally. They have jobs here and they have vehicles here," Ms Yegani said.
Those with visas from Muslim-majority countries have gone through background checks with US authorities, Ms Yegani noted.
Trump senior adviser Kellyanne Conway reaffirmed the President's decision in a Twitter post that labelled Mr Trump a man of "action and impact".
Reuters
Topics: immigration, world-politics, refugees, united-states
First posted
