Protests at JFK after refugees detained under Trump’s executive order

Protesters gathered at Kennedy Airport to demonstrate in support of refugees, a day after President Donald Trump signed an executive order barring non-U.S. citizens from seven Muslim-majority nations from entering the country and halting the admission of refugees.

Refugees who were en route to the United States when the order was signed have been detained at the airport, including two Iraqi refugees, according to the National Immigration Law Center.

A coalition of groups including the American Civil Liberties Union have filed suit on behalf of the two Iraqi refugees and are seeking to establish a class on behalf of all people who have been detained after the order.

One of the Iraqi refugees, Hameed Khalid Darweesh, has since been released, Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-Manhattan) and Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-Brooklyn) announced Saturday afternoon.

A slew of immigrants’ rights groups including the New York Immigration Coalition and the Arab American Association of New York announced their official endorsement of the demonstration outside Terminal 4 at the airport, an action they expected to last through the evening.

Our civic and sacred duty to hold onto hope

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