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Judge Blocks Trump Order to Return Refugees and Visa-Holders

Judge Blocks Trump’s Halt on Immigration from Muslim Nations

Judge Blocks Trump Order to Return Refugees and Visa-Holders
An American flag hangs above travelers waiting in line before going through Transportation Security Administration (TSA) screening at Ronald Reagan National Airport (DCA) in Washington, D.C. (Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) -- A federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from enforcing an executive order that would have led to the removal from U.S. airports of refugees, visa holders and legal U.S. residents from seven mostly Muslim countries.

U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly in Brooklyn issued the ruling following an emergency hearing Saturday night, hours after the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups sued to halt President Donald Trump’s Jan. 27 order. The judge stopped efforts to send back refugees and visa holders who are citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen .

The executive order, aimed at stopping would-be terrorists from entering the country, led to people being detained at airports from Dallas to Atlanta to New York, and sparked an outcry from foreign officials, Democrats in Congress, executives in Silicon Valley, and immigration lawyers, who said it violated the U.S. Constitution. Protests erupted at airports across the country.

Donnelly’s ruling doesn’t strike down Trump’s executive order.

The ACLU and other groups sued on behalf of two men who were barred entry at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport, including Hameed Khalid Darweesh, an interpreter who had worked for the U.S. military in Iraq. Both were later allowed in. The groups also brought an emergency request “to prevent the imminent repatriation of dozens and dozens of refugees, visa-holders, and other individuals from nations subject to the January 27 executive order.”

"They were vetted, given legal permission and caught in transit," Lee Gelernt, a lawyer with the ACLU told Donnelly. He said the number of people affected could be "upwards of 100 or 200 people," though lawyers were trying to account for all the people who were detained.

Gelernt told Donnelly during the hearing that he’d been passed a note saying the government "is literally, as we speak, putting someone on a plane back to Syria.”

Lawyers for the government opposed the stay, but lacked information about how many people were being held and faced deportation.

"This has unfolded with such speed that we haven’t had an opportunity to address any of the issues," said Susan Riley, a lawyer with the U.S. Attorney’s office in Brooklyn.

During the 25-minute hearing, Donnelly repeatedly asked the government’s lawyers to justify their argument that she shouldn’t issue the delay.

"How can you argue that they won’t suffer irreparable injury?" the judge asked, referring to the people who were being detained in airports around the country.

Hundreds gathered outside the Brooklyn courthouse before the hearing, chanting slogans in support of the detainees. The crowd cheered and celebrated as news of the stay filtered out of the courtroom.

The stay will remain in place at least until Feb. 21 while Donnelly considers the underlying suit, which seeks a permanent ban on the removals based on Trump’s executive order.

In Virginia, a second federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from sending back dozens of people who are legal, permanent, U.S. residents, holding a so-called green card and who were being held at Dulles International Airport. U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinema in Alexandria said the 50-to-60 people, all from counties listed in the executive order, must also be given access to lawyers, although she didn’t order them released.

Trump’s executive order spurred airlines around the world, which had no advance warning, to block travelers from the affected countries -- including holders of green cards -- from getting on planes to the U.S. At least a dozen people were being held at Kennedy Airport, including 10 Iranians.

Citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen are barred entry to the U.S. under Trump’s order. A senior White House official, who asked not to be identified because he wasn’t authorized to speak publicly about the matter, said the administration had serious concerns about abuses in immigration programs and needed to impose the 90-day ban on while it comes up with new vetting procedures.

Refugee resettlement to the U.S. were also halted for 120 days, and refugee admissions for 2017 were cut to 50,000 from the planned limit of 110,000 by Trump.

Trump defended his order, telling reporters it wasn’t “a Muslim ban” and that the administration was “totally prepared.”

The case is Darweesh v. Trump, 17-cv-00480, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York (Brooklyn).

To contact the reporters on this story: Bob Van Voris in federal court in Manhattan at rvanvoris@bloomberg.net, David Glovin in New York at dglovin@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Bernard Kohn at bkohn2@bloomberg.net, Joe Schneider