US courts suspend Trump’s decision against Muslims

Department of Homeland Security says it will comply with court rulings while implementing Trump’s order; Muslims stage protests at airports holding banners inscribed with ‘Assallamo Alaikum!’; Canada welcomes all immigrants ‘regardless of faith’; lawyers work overnight to help travelers caught up in confusion at airports

NEW YORK: Federal judges in three states followed one in New York in barring authorities from deporting travelers affected by US President Donald Trump’s executive order imposing restrictions on immigration from seven Muslim-majority nations.

The judges in Massachusetts, Virginia and Washington State issued their rulings late on Saturday or early on Sunday, the US media reported.

Earlier on Saturday, US District Judge Ann Donnelly in New York City's Brooklyn borough ordered authorities to refrain from deporting previously approved refugees from those countries.

She ruled on a lawsuit by two men from Iraq being held at Kennedy Airport. The US Department of Homeland Security said in a statement on Sunday that it would comply with court rulings while at the same time implementing Trump’s order "to ensure that those entering the United States do not pose a threat to our country or the American people."

Across the United States, lawyers worked overnight to help travelers caught up in confusion at airports after the new Republican president on Friday halted immigration from the seven countries and temporarily stopped the entry of refugees. Attorneys and advocates said they have filed more than 100 cases for individual travelers around the country.

In Boston, US District Judge Allison Burroughs on Sunday issued a temporary restraining order blocking the removal of two Iranians who taught at the University of Massachusetts who had been detained at the Logan International Airport.

The order, set to last seven days, appeared to go further than Donnelly's by barring officials from detaining, in addition to removing, approved refugees, visa holders and permanent U.S. residents from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Sudan, Somalia and Yemen.

Donnelly's order only forbade removing those affected by Trump's order. The legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, Matthew Segal, in a statement called Burroughs' order "a huge victory for justice."

"We told President Trump we would see him in court if heordered this unconstitutional ban on Muslims," Segal said. "He tried, and federal courts in Boston and throughout the nation stopped it in its tracks."

In Alexandria, Virginia, US District Judge Leonie Brinkema on Saturday night barred the Department of Homeland Security from removing 50 to 60 people detained at Dulles International Airport who are legal permanent residents.

Dulles is one of the main airports serving Washington, D.C. Brinkema's temporary restraining order also requires the agency to allow those individuals to speak with lawyers, according to the Legal Aid and Justice Center in Virginia, which provides representation to low-income individuals.

On the West Coast, US District Judge Thomas Zilly in Seattle on Saturday barred the federal government from removing two unnamed individuals. He scheduled a further hearing on the issue for Feb.3.

Despite the legal challenges, supporters of Trump's order said the government was within its rights to act swiftly to enforce the president's order. "It is better be safe than sorry," said Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies at the conservative group the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington.

Rallies were underway in Boston, New York, Washington and other eastern cities early Sunday, part of a groundswell of fury that erupted 24 hours earlier and showed no signs of abating.

Protests targeted major airports from Los Angeles to Chicago to New York. Muslims staged protests at different airports holding banners inscribed with “Assallamo Alaikum!” Other demonstrations were set for town squares and smaller airports from Bangor, Maine, to Bloomington, Ind., to Boise.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio tweeted that he would join a rally "for our city's values" at Battery Park. In Boston, thousands turned out in Copley Square. "Brown and proud" and "No wall no ban."

"Can you hear us Washington?!" tweeted Mayor Marty Walsh.  "We’re standing strong in Boston to support & protect ALL of our people & we will not back down. #NoBanNoWall" In Virginia, the advocacy group CASA's call for a rally at Dulles International Airport drew dozens of placard-carrying protesters.

“We will not stop until this executive order is canceled and we arrive at common-sense, immigration reform that takes into account the lives of immigrant and refugee families,” said CASA Virginia state director Michelle LaRue.

Meanwhile, Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau welcomed Canadian immigrants on Saturday in a sunny Twitter message written in stark contrast to Donald Trump’s order temporarily banning all refugees and many Muslims from traveling to the United States.

"To those fleeing persecution, terror & war, Canadians will welcome you, regardless of your faith. Diversity is our strength #WelcomeToCanada," Trudeau posted on Twitter.

The message comes one day after Trump signed a sweeping executive order to suspend the arrival of refugees for at least 120 days and impose tough new controls on travelers from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen for the next three months. Since then, travelers from those countries have been stopped from boarding US-bound planes, triggering angry protests and detentions at airports. Some who were already in the air when Trump signed the executive order were detained on arrival.