Protests erupt at airports following Trump travel ban
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Protesters assemble at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2017, after earlier in the day two Iraqi refugees were detained while trying to enter the country.
President Donald Trump’s travel ban barring citizens of seven predominantly Muslim nations entry into the U.S. has sparked protests around the country Saturday night and early this morning.
A look at what is happening:
SEATTLE
Individuals who were detained at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport as a result of President Trump’s executive order have been released by the Department of Homeland Security, a Port of Seattle spokeswoman said Sunday.
Kathy Roeder said DHS told port officials the individuals can continue their travels. She didn’t know how many people had been released.
About 3,000 protesters holding signs and chanting “no hatred, no fear, immigrants are welcome here” and “let them in” gathered Saturday evening and continued demonstrating into early Sunday morning.
Roeder said the crowd dispersed shortly after midnight, but that about 30 to 35 were arrested during the demonstration and face various misdemeanor charges. She said there were no injuries or damage to the facilities.
The Port of Seattle Commissioners, which oversees the airport, issued a statement criticizing the executive order.
NEW YORK
Cries of “Let them in!” rose up from a crowd of more than 2,000 people protesting at John F. Kennedy Airport, where 12 refugees were detained Saturday. Celebrities including “Sex and the City” actress Cynthia Nixon joined the demonstration. “What Donald Trump did in the last 24 hours is disgusting, disgraceful and completely un-American and I’m here in protest,” said protester Pamela French. The agency that runs the airport tried to restore order by shutting down the train that runs to airport terminals. Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, reversed that decision, saying people had a right to protest. “The people of New York will have their voices heard,” he said in a statement.
NEWARK, NEW JERSEY
More than 120 people clutching signs denouncing the Trump immigration orders gathered at Newark Liberty International Airport. NorthJersey.com reports that they joined lawyers who’d rushed to the airport to defend the rights of refugees and immigrants who were being detained and denied entry.
FAIRFAX, VIRGINIA
Dozens of protesters inside Washington Dulles International Airport chanted “Love, Not Hate, Makes America Great” and “Say It Loud, Say it Clear, Muslims Are Welcome Here,” as travelers walked through a terminal to a baggage claim area to collect luggage and greet their loved ones. There was a heavy police presence during the peaceful protest. Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe said during a press conference at Dulles that he has asked Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring to look into “all legal remedies” available to help individuals who may be detained in Virginia.
DENVER
Dozens of people converged on Denver International to show their support for refugees. Standing in the main terminal Saturday, they sang “Refugees are welcome here.” Some held signs declaring their identity, such as Jew or Christian, and the phrase “I come in peace.” Denver has some direct international flights but it wasn’t clear whether anyone has been detained under the president’s executive order.
CHICAGO
A crowd of demonstrators held a rally at O’Hare International Airport. The Chicago Sun-Times reports protesters blocked vehicle traffic to O’Hare’s international terminal for a time. The newspaper says some arriving travelers joined the protest, while others were upset by the demonstrations.
Lawyers working with the International Refugee Assistance Project tell the Chicago Tribune that 17 people who had been detained at O’Hare all released by late Saturday.
Among those released before the federal judge’s order was Hessan Noorian, a suburban Park Ridge resident returning with his family from Iran, the Tribune reported.
Noorian, who is of British and Iranian citizenship and has a green card, was detained at O’Hare after he and his wife, Zahra Amirisefat, a U.S. citizen, arrived from Tehran, the newspaper said.
The couple, who told the Tribune that they work at a community college in the Chicago area, said they were questioned for five hours.
After Noorian was released, his wife told the Tribune: “I can’t believe something like this can happen to someone with a green card.”
DALLAS
Protesters who gathered at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport Saturday evening voiced their displeasure with Trump’s executive order. The crowd of a few dozen ballooned into hundreds of demonstrators who frequently chanted “Set them free!” At times, cheers erupted from the crowd as those who were detained got released.
Among those still held at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport at midnight Saturday was a 70-year-old Iranian widow, Shahin Hassanpour, whose son said she suffers from high blood pressure and had breast cancer surgery four years ago. She obtained an immigrant visa in November on her son’s petition.
Bahzad Honarjou, a 43-year-old network engineer, said he spoke twice to his mother by phone after her 9 a.m. arrival, but that they hadn’t talked since courts stayed the executive order, meaning she should have been released.
Hundreds of protesters stood in the waiting area and chanted “This is what democracy looks like.”
Immigration agents were not being very communicative, Honarjou said.
“They were like a machine when I talked to them today,” he said. His mother only speaks a few words of English and a fellow passenger was translating for her from her native Farsi as no immigration agents spoke the language, he said.
Hassanpour was originally going to be deported on a Sunday flight, she informed her son the first time they spoke.
“She was about to cry,” he said. “She is not able to take (tolerate) a 20-hour flight back to Iran.”
Honarjou said he is a U.S. citizen, obtained entry in a lottery, and has been in the country for seven years. Why did he come?
“To have a better life and to make more money,” he said. “And, you know, for the freedom.”
PORTLAND, OREGON
A protest by several dozen people in and around Portland International Airport briefly disrupted light rail service at the airport. The Oregonian/OregonLive reports that the demonstrators carried signs and chanted “Say it loud, say it clear, refugees are welcome here” and “No ban no wall America is for us all.”
LOS ANGELES
About 300 people expressed their displeasure with the ban at Los Angeles International Airport Saturday night. Protesters entered the airport’s Tom Bradley International Terminal after holding a candlelight vigil.
Avriel Epps held a candle and a large photo a drowned 3-year-old Syrian boy who washed up on a Turkish beach in 2015 and became a haunting symbol of the Syrian refugee crisis.
SAN FRANCISCO
Hundreds of protesters blocked the street outside at San Francisco International Airport’s international terminal to express their opposition to the barring of some people from Muslim-majority nations.
SAN DIEGO
As motorists honked their support, demonstrators outside San Diego International Airport chanted “No hate, no fear, everyone is welcome here.”
44 responses to “Protests erupt at airports following Trump travel ban”
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These protesters should be protesting about the conditions in the Muslim countries that have been identified as harboring terrorist, not protesting against a President that is protecting us until a more stringent method of vetting is adopted.
You have things all mixed up as usual.
The people protesting are Americans, and they are protesting against a clearly unconstitutional and illegal act perpetrated by our President. Trump isn’t protecting anything – he’s making things much worse by obviously starting a war with Islam. He won’t fully understand that until a Trump building overseas is attacked or destroyed, which is inevitable at this point. He all but guaranteed that with this ridiculous and cowardly action.
Trump has absolutely no idea what he’s doing, and in his usual ham-fisted way, is lashing out like the 13 year-old bully who is trapped inside a morbidly obese, orange, 70 year-old body. He is going to learn quickly that the President is not a king. Lawyers by the thousands are rising up to fight him. We have the judiciary behind us. That’s what the Constitution provides.
Learn something today.
The way your perceive trump is the way you act. Using racist and other negative descriptions to describe someone. Interesting…
Obama did the same thing to to Iraqi refugees in 2011. Was it “clearly unconstitutional and illegal” then? Go read and learn something!
Obama’s EO was nothing like Trump’s. Nothing.
How can you comment if you don’t understand the subject matter?
President Obama never banned legal resident aliens from passing the border.
Klastri, Obama did ban all refugees from Iraq for six months in 2011 when the U.S. discovered Al-Qaeda terrorists living as refugees in Kentucky, and liberals said absolutely nothing. This proves two things. One is that Islamic terrorists have entered the U.S. pretending to be refugees and the other is that liberals are hypocrites for giving Obama a pass and attacking Trump for following the same thing but on a larger scale.
There are about 22 camps that train military tactics and there is belief terrorist tactics run by people who are from where ever they come from. The former administration has allowed this to be such. Is it alright to has these type of organization whomever they may be to be allowed to do these things just because they are on private property.
You be the judge and ask yourself why, what purpose for these camps, what is their agenda, etc.
Is it alright to have these type of training groups to continue that may not have any ties to the American government.
The war with islam started a long time ago, two half brothers fighting for their birth rights. You can’t reason with a liberal until it hits it’s back yard and by then they’ll blame someone else for not doing something. Thank you Mr. Trump for taking action to make America safer.
I would suggest that virtually the entire worldwide intelligence community (that would exclude Trump staffers … and you) believe that Trump had made things much more dangerous for the United States with this illegal and unconstitutional act.
Trump is an ignoramus. You appear blind to that. Most of his voters are. It’s sad.
There you go again, klastri, babbling on about what is legal and nit-picking about Constitutional rights. We’re talking Muslims here. And Safety. Muslims and safety. So what if Trump just swore to uphold the Constitution. We all know that oath was toast before the Bible had even cooled off from where he had placed his hand. Toast!
For Trump, laws don’t matter. Ethics don’t matter. Human rights don’t matter. We all know this because Trump said so. And still we elected him. Landslide (he said so).
So quit whining, “Trump has made things much more dangerous for the United States with this illegal and unconstitutional act.” You just don’t get it.
Pissing other people off and making enemies is what Trump does best (second best is making money for Donald J. Trump). It just comes naturally. You could say it is his superpower.
So Trump’s unfair executive order is creating anger throughout the Muslim community. So what? That’s just the beauty of its unfairness.
Trump is strutting his stuff and carrying out the “secret plan” he used to defeat Lyin Ted, Little Marco, Crooked Hilary and all the Dummocrats.
Isn’t it good to insult and mistreat Muslims and make more enemies? Won’t Trump just keep winning that way? What could possibly go wrong?
klastri – Talk about a shibai post, “clearly unconstitutional and illegal act perpetrated by our President.” You failed to post a single credible link to back up your claims, mark of a ranting rookie poster.
“Lawyers by the thousands are rising up to fight him.” Really? Again no credible reference link.
Actually it is the weak of mind Snowflakes who are upset. Running to their Safe Space, smart phone in hand, the soft glow comforts them as they hide in the dark from the real world.”
Suck it up Buttercup.
IRT Klastri: Do your self a favor and stop commenting, your extreme hatred towards President Trump is really showing how ignorant you are and the true colors of the democratic party. What you and the rest of your depleted party should be doing is come together and try to figure out why you got spanked in the election. If you were truly educated as you have stated you would understand that the way that all you left wing radicals are acting is the exact reason why President Trump won. The American people are sick of it and wont take it anymore. Keep protesting and writing this hatred towards President Trump, you are making it that much easier for re-election.
Good to see Soros getting taken on across the globe now for his ‘political’ actions to promote the ‘one world order’ and ‘funding of the refugee crisis’ that has the EU nations in a real mess…
Not to mention his effort to affect the political landscapes of countries like the US as part of his effort to move towards a ‘one world order’….. There are reports that show how much of the liberal/Democratic ‘special interest’ groups he has been funding. Funding that I suspect without, many of these groups would close up operation altogether…
I always was under the impression that the President’s main job is to protect Americans? (sarc for those who lack common sense)
“Extreme Vetting” was one of then DJT’s campaign promises so no surprise for me..great to see him following thru.
Right, noted some legal scholars on CNN this morning and they are of the opinion that the president has the authority. It appears that the judge’s order applies to those that have been vetted.
It’s because Trump is so clueless that he inserted an obvious religious test into the EO. Neither he nor his staff knows what they’re doing. It would be amusing if it wasn’t so tragic.
It doesn’t help that he is so mentally ill.
Trump is just doing his job. A new leader gets everyone’s attention. It sure is working. Every day he is talking to world leaders. Who have you talked to lately?
Terrorism against our Constitution, Democratic and American values and princples, does not get a free pass. Protest and Resist
Trump is not protecting anyone. He is making things far worse for American interests. Immigrants are heavily vetted. Some wait 5-10 years or more. The danger is really ignorance from lazy civilians who do not bother to find out the facts.
Allie, LEGAL immigrants are heavily vetted and some wait for ten or more years before being allowed to entry because of a quota system. That is not the case with refugees. That was made very clear by FBI Director James Comey in a hearing before Congress several months ago when Obama was pushing hard to bring in tens of thousands of refugees from Syria. He said it was impossible to properly vet them. Many refugees, perhaps the majority, flee their countries with nothing more than the clothes on their backs. They have no documentation to prove who they are or from where they came. All we have to go on is their word. The top law enforcement officer in the United States says it is impossible to vet them, yet you want to bring them in. It is like playing Russian roulette. It is insanity.
You are not correct. But no amount of reason, logic and facts will help with you.
Klastri, where am I wrong?
Protest, Protest, Protest, against arbitrary acts of Trump tyranny
Trump suspends the issuing of U.S. visas or travel permits to folks from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. No American was killed inside the U.S. by anyone from those countries between 1975 and 2015.
Yet, nearly 3,000 Americans were killed by citizens from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt during those same years, including those killed in the 9/11 attacks. The citizens of those three countries can still get U.S. visas and travel permits.
Also, Trump has refused to rescind ownership of his business holdings in those countries. Conflict of interest?
Were there protests like this when past potus did the same thing?
https://www.google.com/amp/amp.dailycaller.com/2016/06/16/the-past-six-presidents-have-all-used-executive-power-to-block-certain-classes-of-immigrants/
No, because those Presidents understood the Constitution and had qualified staffs to write the orders. Trump, on the other hand, is proving to be a complete ignoramus (surprise!) who included legal permanent residents of the United States who work here and live here with their families. He is proving that he is unable to govern.
Here’s the Presidential Oath. “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
It might help to have a literate friend read the oath to you. Trump has been soiling on the Constitution since he took office. Patriots are rising up by the thousands to stop him. There’s nothing that your childish whining can do to stop us.
You missed the quote “to the best of my ability”. This relieves trump of any wrong doing.
Then he is not qualified to be the president if that’s the best that he can do.
We understand Klastri that you are still butt hurt about the whole Trump winning the election. It’s ok. Go ahead and rant as all of your leftist ideologies continue to go down the “drain”. Now, go to church and have a great day.
@Andrew1, your last sentence seems flippant and cruel after the previous remarks. If you disagree with Klastri’s remarks, why not make an argument against them instead of acting like an insulting child? And you have the gall to tell someone to go to church. Maybe you recall such lines from the Bible as he w/o sin throwing the first stone (boy, that would shut the comments pages down in a hurry if people adhered to that!).
Yea, why does SA let some of the racist and personal attack comments go through? Really wish this were not a one paper town, even still getting to the point I should just cancel my subscription.
wave1 – I’m sure they would really miss you. Really.
Andrew1 – If you think that the Constitution is a “leftist ideology” then you need to repeat fifth grade Civics.
You don’t understand anything about this. Trump is a fool who is going to be inundated with lawsuits to stay and vacate his unconstitutional orders. He is an international laughingstock.
Worst President Ever. No question whatever about that. None.
wave1: Would you care to cite this racism you’re referring to? I don’t see it – at least not in the direction you’re pointing.
Klastri is right: It is essential that we hold our constitution sacrosanct. Trump is a danger to America.
Isis is a bigger danger to the world and America…
wave1 – And Trump this week became the Chief Recruiter for ISIS.
Klastri, liberals have long claimed that the POW camp at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba is a recruiting tool for Islamic terrorist groups and now you claim Trump is the number one ISIS recruiter. The Guantanamo Bay facility did not exist when the USS Cole was attached in Yemen, it was not there when Islamic terrorists flew airplanes into the World Trade Center, it was not there when the Marine Barracks in Lebanon was attacked by Islamic terrorists and it was not there when dozens of other attacks were perpetrated by Islamic terrorists on US and Western interests in the Middle-East, Africa and Europe. So, you see, Klastri, it is nonsense for liberals to say the facility at Guantanamo Bay helped recruiting for Islamic terrorist groups and it is nonsense for you to say Trump’s actions will help such recruiting. Islamic terrorists are driven by a warped ideology and not by what Trump or anyone else says or does in response to their terrorist acts.
@ Ronin 006
Excellent post. You informed me today.
Hey Snowflake KKKlastri…KaBoom!
@KKKlastri
Blah blah blah.
Ohv& btw thank GOD & WeThePeople voted your Crooked Corrupt hiLIARy OUT to pasture. I shudder to think where America would be with your kind/Libs in charge!
These protesters are so hypocritical. these protests have nothing to do with the issues at hand and everything to do with the hatred for President Trump and the bitterness towards losing the election. Trump is doing what no other politician has done, making good on his campaign promises. Either put on your big boy boy pants or go back to your safe zone and cry. These protests are just strengthening President Trump’s suport base. The Democrat party is crumbling.
WASHINGTON—Dismissing concerns that the controversial interrogation method constituted torture, President Donald Trump told reporters Thursday that waterboarding does not even come close to the excruciating torment he himself experiences at every waking moment. “Prisoners who are forced to endure a few hours of simulated drowning hardly experience the unrelenting horror that tears at my psyche night and day,” said Trump, adding that being strapped to a chair in a filthy concrete cell and repeatedly suffocated was a “stroll in the park” compared to the cruel and inhuman anguish his mind is subjected to literally every single second. “What is having gallons of water forced into your lungs compared to the nightmare that has never once released its grip on me? Waterboarding only brings a prisoner to the brink of death. I die a thousand times a day.” Trump went on to say that unlike the victims of the brutal interrogation technique, he was relentlessly tormented by the miserable fact that he deserved everything that was happening to him.
The Onion
once again–you proved a point– the ONION is a SATIRICAL newspaper–it makes stuff up!–get out of mom’s basement and get a life.if you want to make a point,do it with facts and a logical argument,not with a meaningless, pointless diatribe.thank you.
In 1995 President Clinton said the same things President Trump is saying….and the loonies applaud!
https://youtu.be/auZRVqrCLY8