Trump Can’t Deport Detained Immigrants Despite Executive Order, Judges Rule

On Saturday evening, a New York federal judge issued an order preventing the U.S. government from deporting immigrants from the United States who were being detained at airports following President Donald Trump’s executive order banning people from several Muslim-majority countries.

Other courts across the United States also issued similar rulings preventing immigrants from deportation.

The order was issued by U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly in response to a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, the International Refugee Assistance Project, the National Immigration Law Center and other groups on behalf of two Iraqi men who landed at John F. Kennedy International Airport on the evening of Friday, Jan. 27.

According to the ACLU lawsuit, plaintiff Hameed Khalid Darweesh had been granted a Special Immigrant Visa on Jan. 20 for his nearly 10 years of service to the United States as an interpreter, contractor and engineer.

Plaintiff Haider Sameer Abdulkhaleq Alshawi was reportedly granted a Follow to Join Visa on Jan. 11 so that he would be able to join his wife and son, who had been granted refugee status and are living in Houston as lawful permanent residents.

Darweesh and Alshawi were granted their visas after being subjected to administrative processing and security checks, and after the U.S. government determined they did not pose a threat to the country.

However, when they arrived at JFK airport, U.S. Customs and Border Protection blocked both of them from leaving and detained them at the airport. They were reportedly not permitted to meet with their attorneys.

The executive order issued last Friday by President Trump imposed a 120-day moratorium on the refugee resettlement program and imposes a 90-day ban on the entry into the United States of non-citizens from Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

The ACLU lawsuit asserts that the detention of Darweesh and Alshawi based solely on Trump’s executive order violates their Fifth Amendment rights to due process.

“Further, Petitioners’ continued unlawful detention is part of a widespread pattern applied to many refugees and arriving aliens detained after the issuance of the January 27, 2017 executive order,” the ACLU lawsuit states.

On behalf of Darweesh and Alshawi and others in similar situations, the ACLU lawsuit asked the court for a writ of habeas corpus to “remedy their unlawful detention.”

In Saturday’s order, Judge Donnelly ordered the federal government to stop removing individuals with valid visas and/or refugee applications that were approved by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services as part of the refugee admissions program, as well as other individuals from the listed countries who are legally authorized to enter the United States.

Similar orders were issued over the weekend by federal judges in Massachusetts, Virginia and Washington.

The President Trump Executive Order Immigration Lawsuits are Darweesh v. Trump, Case No. 1:17-cv-00480, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York; Tootkaboni v. Trump, Case No. 1:17-10154, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts; Doe v. Trump, Case No. 2:17-cv-00126, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington; and Aziz v. Trump, Case No. 1:17-cv-00116, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

UPDATE: On Aug. 31 2017, a new settlement over the Trump administration’s first immigration ban will provide barred travelers with notice of their right to reapply for entry into the U.S.