USA
President Donald Trump's executive order limiting immigration to the U.S. from seven Muslim-majority countries led to widespread confusion as refugees, green-card holders, students and workers holdings visas were detained at U.S. airports or barred from getting on international flights on Saturday.
By Saturday night, a federal judge in New York had temporarily blocked the Trump administration order from deporting people after landing in the U.S. with valid visas.
Trump said earlier Saturday that his new ban on people from certain countries entering the U.S. was "working out very, very nicely. You see it at the airports, you see it all over."
However, hours after the executive order was signed, protesters began gathering at airports and attorneys said their clients were trapped outside the United States or detained at U.S. airports.
The ban went into place Friday night, sparking fear and confusion as officials worked out how to enforce it.
Trump added, "We're going to have a very, very strict ban and we're going to have extreme vetting, which we should have had in this country for many years."
By "extreme vetting," Trump was referring to his plans to carefully examine Muslims and other people deemed as possible threats to the United States before allowing them to enter the country.
Meanwhile, the ban faced its first lawsuit, a legal challenge brought by two men detained at John F. Kennedy airport in New York City. The American Civil Liberties Union is heading up the legal challenge, backed by other advocacy groups.
By late Saturday, thousands of protesters had gathered at airports in major cities to protest the executive order, adding to the confusion.
U.S. lawmakers are speaking out both for and against the ban.
Defended ban
U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan, a Republican like Trump, defended the ban in a statement delivered by an aide on Friday.
"This is not a religious test and it is not a ban on people of any religion," Ryan spokeswoman AshLee Strong said.
Senator Ben Sasse, a Republican from Nebraska, credited Trump's order for focusing on protecting the country’s borders, but added the order is "too broad."
The Washington Post reported Saturday that its calls and emails to more than a dozen other top Republican lawmakers, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, went unanswered in the first day of the ban's implementation.
But some Republicans spoke out against the ban.
Representative Charlie Dent, a Republican from Pennsylvania, counts a sizable Syrian population among his constituents in the metropolitan area of Allentown.
'Ridiculous'
Dent told the Washington Post he was contacted Saturday morning by a constituent who said six family members who had visas and had recently purchased a home in Pennsylvania were turned away at Philadelphia International Airport, just hours after arriving in the country on a Qatar Airways flight.
"This is ridiculous," Dent said. "I guess I understand what his [Trump's] intention is, but unfortunately the order appears to have been rushed through without full consideration."
"This family was sent home despite having all their paperwork in order," Dent added. "It's unacceptable, and I urge the administration to halt enforcement of this order until a more thoughtful and deliberate policy can be reinstated."
"Shame. Shame. Shame," said Republican Senator Brian Schwartz of Hawaii in a tweet. "I feel sick."
Senator Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat from California, told a reporter the ban is "an unbelievable action. It's one thing to see that an individual is properly vetted. It's an entirely different matter to say that because someone comes from a particular country or is a member of a particular faith that he or she has no access to this country."
Other travelers have been thwarted in their attempts to enter the country as well, adding fuel to the protests that have erupted at airports, including in Washington, D.C., New York City, and Portland, Oregon.
The Los Angeles Times reported Saturday that at least 10 to 15 attorneys have gathered at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), one of the nation's largest airports, to help travelers who have been detained. The paper said most of the detainees are from Iraq or Iran.
Federal officials have not been allowing family members or lawyers any contact with detainees, so details are sketchy.
One immigration attorney, Jordan Cunnings, told the paper one of the detained travelers was a young Iranian mother who has held a U.S. "green card," or legal work permit, for five years and is due to take her oath of citizenship in two weeks. Cunnings said the woman is traveling with her 11-month-old baby, an American citizen.
"People don't have phone access or communication access to the people waiting for them, or their attorneys," Cunnings said.
Cunnings also told the paper that without information, legal aid workers are scanning the crowds for people who might be looking for someone who has not shown up. "We're literally walking around asking people, are you waiting for someone who has been detained?"
Somali refugees who have been waiting resettlement in the United States for years told VOA's Somali service that their flights to the United States were canceled by the order.
"We come from Dadaab [refugee camp] and have been in the U.N. complex in Nairobi [Kenya] for days, for the preparation of our flights to the U.S. on January 31," said Farah Mahad Bille to VOA Saturday. "We are told this morning that we are going back to Dada because of the U.S. president's order. It's an absolutely devastating loss of hope to us."
Somali-American
And Farhan Sulub, a Somali-American father who lived in the United States for the past 10 years, told VOA his wife was turned away from entering the United States at Washington, D.C.'S Dulles Airport Saturday, although Sulub's children were allowed to enter the country.
"The immigration officers in the airport called me as I was waiting for my wife and children," he said. "They told me that my wife is not allowed to enter the U.S. because of her Somali nationality, but my children can go with me if I needed."
Meanwhile, the United Nations refugee agency and the International Organization for Immigrants have joined the growing numbers of advocacy groups criticizing U.S. actions.
"The needs of refugees and migrants worldwide have never been greater, and the U.S. resettlement program is one of the most important in the world," reads a joint statement by the two groups. Saying the U.S. policy of welcoming refugees has enriched both the lives of the refugees and their new, U.S. societies, the statement urges U.S. officials to reconsider the new policy.
"Resettlement places provided by every country are vital," it says. "NCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and ION, the International Organization for Migration, hope that the U.S. will continue its strong leadership role and long tradition of protecting those who are fleeing conflict and persecution."
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