U.S. judge bars deportations under Trump travel ban

By PSN

President Trump’s ban on immigration by citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries ran into at least a temporary roadblock Saturday night, after a U.S. District judge in Brooklyn granted an emergency stay sought by immigrants’ rights lawyers.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a legal case early on Saturday in response to the order.

The judge’s ruling applies to those who have already arrived in the U.S. and those who are in transit who hold valid visas. The decision halts part of Trump’s executive order, which barred citizens from those seven countries for the next 90 days.

The Judge is Ann Donnelly of New York
The Department of Homeland Security said that by Saturday evening, its agents had stopped 109 foreigners at U.S. airports based on Trump’s order and prevented another 173 people from boarding flights headed for the U.S.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo Saturday tweeted an offer of support to those who had been stopped at the state's airports: "I have directed Port Authority, @NYSDOS, & my Counsel's Office to jointly explore all legal options to assist anyone detained at NY airports."

As protests continue to break out across major U.S. airports Saturday night following President Trump's immigration ban, taxi drivers at New York'sJohn F. Kennedy International Airport have gone on strike.

In postings to social networks Saturday the New York Taxi Workers Alliance announced that from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. there would be no pickups at JFK as a protest to the immigration ban that some are taking as a ban on Muslims.

In the state of Virginia, another federal judge issued a temporary restraining order Saturday night, directing the Department of Homeland Security to allow lawyers to meet with legal permanent residents detained at Washington Dulles International Airport. U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema also forbade Homeland Security from deporting any of the green-card holders for seven days.

“President Trump never gave a second thought to how his discriminatory, un-American order would actually play out on the ground,” Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring said after the judge's ruling. “We will continue to explore any legal options available to the Commonwealth to oppose this misguided effort.”

The court has set a date to hear the case for the end of February.