Protests at JFK after refugees detained under Trump’s executive order

The emergency stay does not only apply to Darweesh and Alshawi, but will also temporarily forbid United States authorities from deporting immigrants with valid travel documents who are stranded at airports across the U.S. due to the Trump’s order.

The action from Trump was meant to stop the refugee program and halting immigration from seven majority-Muslim countries. The move, he said, would help protect Americans from terrorist attacks.

“I want to just go back to something that the ACLU said when Donald Trump was elected”, said ACLU lawyer Matthew Segal.

Along with Syria, the ban affects travelers with passports from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

For example, on Saturday, Dutch airline KLM confirmed to CBS News that it has already had to turn away at least seven travelers because of the executive order. Another 173 were stopped by airlines before boarding. According to the Associated Press, The Council on American-Islamic Relations said it would challenge the the executive order. “No foreign national in a foreign land, without ties to the United States, has any unfettered right to demand entry into the United States or to demand immigration benefits in the United States”.

Protesters assemble at John F. Kennedy International Airport in NY on Saturday. They continued Sunday across the country.

In the case of war-torn Syria, the president qualified the order’s scope by saying he would prioritise Syrian Christians coming in as refugees. Only if people have dual citizenship will they be allowed to enter. “The contribution of refugees and migrants to their new homes worldwide has been overwhelmingly positive”, the United Nations said in a statement. “We are sending someone to JFK airport to speak to customs and border control about this, people are in a state of shock”.

Becca Heller, director and co-founder of the International Refugee Assistance Project, said green card holders from the seven countries have been detained at John F. Kennedy International Airport and Los Angeles International Airport, as well as other airports around the country.

Airlines are the first line of defense in observing such an order.

But Mr Trump’s supporters said it was necessary for the nation’s security.