CHICAGO (CBS) — For the second night in a row, protesters gathered at O’Hare International Airport on Sunday to express their outrage at President Donald Trump’s travel ban for people from seven predominantly Muslim countries.
Sunday night at O’Hare and airports in at least a dozen other cities, crowds gathered to protest Trump’s executive order that includes a 90-day ban on travel to the U.S. by citizens of Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia, and Yemen.
The travel ban covers legal permanent residents – meaning those with green cards – and those with valid travel visas from those nations who were outside the U.S. after Friday. According to the Wall Street Journal, the State Department has said those who have dual citizenship with the seven countries also will be barred from the U.S., even if they hold passports from U.S. allies, such as the United Kingdom. The order also bars any refugees from entering the country for 120 days.
U.S. Senators Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth have called on the Department of Homeland Security to conduct an independent investigation into whether the executive order was legally implemented.
About 1,000 people protested the executive order at O’Hare on Saturday, packing the International Terminal for hours until those who had been detained under the order were released.
A smaller crowd of protesters returned to O’Hare on Sunday to voice their anger over the order Trump signed Friday.
At least 18 people were detained at O’Hare on Saturday after Trump’s order went into effect, but they were released late Saturday night, after a federal judge in New York intervened, issuing a temporary order prohibiting the federal government from deporting people subject to Trump’s executive order.
Several attorneys have set up at the airport over the weekend to offer pro bono legal help to those who have been detained. Many elected officials from Illinois, including members of Congress, also have been at the airport to show their support for the protests and to offer assistance to anyone affected by the travel ban.
“This is what America looks like,” U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky said.
The attorneys at O’Hare have advised foreign nationals from the seven countries included in Trump’s order not to leave the U.S.
“The message to the immigrant community and non-immigrants who are here legally is don’t leave the country. Stay, and don’t travel internationally until your right to return is secured,” attorney Kalman Resnick said.
While no one was detained at O’Hare on Sunday, several travelers were questioned extensively before they were allowed before they were allowed to leave the airport.
A family from Syria was reunited Sunday, after they were questioned for roughly three hours. Muhammad said he was recently accepted to dental school in the U.S.
“I was afraid that I’m going to lose my acceptance to dentist school, and be driven back to my home country, Syria, which I can’t go back to; but, hopefully, I made it. Thank you, everyone,” he said.
A BBC journalist from Iran said his social media was scrutinized, and his background was questioned before he was free to go.
“I was questioned two times regarding my place of birth, which is Iran, and regarding my work. Even they asked about my Facebook, about my Twitter,” Ali Hamedani said. “They seized my mobile phone.”
Mayor Rahm Emanuel also was at O’Hare on Sunday to denounce Trump’s executive order. He has said the travel ban has “tarnished America’s standing as a beacon of hope for the free world,” and has demanded the federal government provide a list of names of anyone detained at O’Hare or Midway International Airport as a result of the travel ban.
The mayor urged residents in Chicago to host refugees and immigrants in their homes as a form of protest against Trump’s order.
“I’m calling on all Chicagoans to open up their homes, open up their hearts,” he said.
Officials said no one was being detained at O’Hare on Sunday or Monday, but the real question was if there would be a third consecutive day of protests at the nation’s large international airports.
from CBS Chicago http://ift.tt/2kj76lo
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