Droves of volunteer lawyers step up to defend trapped travelers
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Volunteer lawyers worked to help free travelers detained at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York on Sunday. As President Donald Trump’s order temporary banning refugees and citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries from traveling to the U.S., dozens of attorneys descended on JFK.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Volunteer lawyers worked, Sunday, to help free travelers detained at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. A cadre of volunteer lawyers, translators and others camped out in a diner at John F. Kennedy Airport, trying to find and free people abruptly detained under President Donald Trump’s order temporary banning refugees and citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries from traveling to the U.S.
NEW YORK >> It had been a few years since attorney Roman Zelichenko left immigration law for a career in finance, and longer still since he pulled an all-nighter.
But after President Donald Trump issued his immigration order, Zelichenko spent 21 straight hours at what swiftly became one of the nation’s most closely watched immigration law centers — a diner at John F. Kennedy Airport where volunteer lawyers, translators and others tried to find and free people detained under the new rules.
Alerted by law school friends, Zelichenko joined the effort because it resonated personally: He emigrated from Ukraine as a child.
“We all have different personal connections,” he said Monday as he worked on the project’s social media postings. But “we’re here as professionals, and our agenda is to uphold the rule of law.”
As Friday’s presidential order reverberated around the world, dozens of attorneys descended on JFK to advocate for people suddenly stuck in a legal limbo that the lawyers argue is unjust and unlawful.
Trump temporarily banned refugees and citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries from traveling to the U.S. Throughout the weekend that followed, travelers were held for questioning, confusion spread across the air-travel system and protesters marched against the measure.
Mobilized by email and word of mouth, the legal effort known on Twitter as “NoBanJFK” is one of several at major U.S. airports. Lawyers filed roughly two dozen lawsuits on behalf of detainees in several states and won several federal court rulings that, at least temporarily, blocked the government from removing people who arrived with valid visas.
At JFK, where lawyers helped win the first of the rulings Saturday night, the round-the-clock work began with attorneys typing on laptops on the airport floor. Now they sit at a cluster of cafeteria tables, and law students have toiled alongside seasoned litigators.
The volunteers take hotline calls on cellphones. Signs in multiple languages offer help.
More than 650 attorneys have volunteered for the project, which participants feel has done their profession proud.
“I think lawyers get a bad rap, and sometimes it’s deserved. But most of us went to law school to help people,” said Melissa Trent, a civil rights lawyer who left a training session to spend over 24 hours at the airport over the weekend.
“We believe in this country, its laws and the Constitution … and when we see those values challenged, we show up.”
The lawyers say Trump’s order violates constitutional protections against religious discrimination, among other principles and federal laws.
Trump casts the measure as a safeguard against violent Islamic extremism. The order temporarily blocks immigrants and visitors from Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen. It does not include all countries with ties to terrorism affecting the U.S., nor does it address the threat of homegrown militants.
Legal experts are divided as to how federal courts will ultimately view Trump’s action.
Whatever the final outcome, the airport attorneys and groups working with them have demonstrated a spontaneous form of legal rapid response to the new administration’s policies. Meanwhile, Democratic state attorneys general are mounting broader challenges.
Roughly 400 attorneys have signed up to volunteer at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, taking six-hour shifts from 6 a.m. to midnight.
Today, some held signs — “Do you need an attorney?” ”Was anyone on your flight detained?” — in arrival areas. Supporters donated office supplies, coffee and doughnuts.
At Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, reports of detained travelers were still coming in today to volunteer lawyers who organized an airport hotel “war room” and set up tables outside the customs area, attorneys Peter Schulte and Paul Wingo said.
A legal team also set up in the international arrival area at San Francisco’s main airport. And at Washington Dulles Airport, about 100 attorneys gathered on Sunday alone.
“I was born here in order to help people who can’t help themselves,” said Mariam Masumi, who is Muslim, an immigration lawyer and the daughter of Afghan immigrants. She skipped a funeral to lend her skills at the airport.
With no information coming from the government on who is being held, legal volunteers glean what they can from arriving passengers and from detainees’ relatives or friends.
“These were families that were torn apart who had done nothing wrong,” says Russell Kornblith, an employment-discrimination lawyer who joined the JFK effort Saturday with his fiancee, Elizabeth Rosen, a corporate litigator.
One family Kornblith met was waiting for a 68-year-old Yemeni woman with diabetes who had a visa to stay with her son, a U.S. citizen, lawyers and relatives said. She was ultimately released after Saturday night’s court order.
Carolyn Lipp isn’t even a lawyer yet, but she got a new sense of the profession’s potential at JFK, helping with the work that won the New York court order.
“It’s definitely why I came to law school, to do something like this,” said Lipp, a Yale Law School student who got involved through the school’s Worker and Immigrant Rights Advocacy Clinic. “To make a difference.”
Associated Press writers William Mathis in New York; Ben Nuckols in Chantilly, Virginia; Olga Rodriguez in San Francisco; Sophia Tareen in Chicago and David Warren in Dallas contributed to this report.
49 responses to “Droves of volunteer lawyers step up to defend trapped travelers”
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I have a question: Does our US Constitution protection those that are NOT citizens of the US?
Sorry, but I do not know and keep hearing about the Constitutional Rights vs Human Rights. Yes, I could see the injustice according to Human Rights, but, does the Constitution of the UNITED STATES also protect those whom are not legal citizens?
In short, yes, even illegal aliens enjoy the protections stated in the Bill of Rights. Whether this should always be the case would provoke an endless debate.
In a similar vein, is diplomatic immunity as inviolate at it often appears to be – even for crimes involving homicide or felonious assault?
Yes, the Constitution protects illegals in the U.S. but it does apply to people wanting to come to the U.S.
There is no “illegal” person. You sound like Joseph Goebbels.
There are illegal acts. Learn something today.
DeltaDag – Diplomatic Immunity is applied in degrees based on rank. Ambassadors and their families cannot be prosecuted for anything, including murder; cannot be arrested; and cannot be forced to testify for any reason. They can (and would) be expelled from the host country as persona non grata, and would typically face some kind of prosecution or punishment in their home country.
Lower level staff has lesser immunity.
Altruism does exist, but this story also suggest many lawyers enjoy a lot of free or disposable time.
No, it doesn’t.
My firm dispatched 13 lawyers, including me, and 10 paralegals, to airports across the country. We stopped paid work for those people and explained the situation to our clients. Since all of them thankfully value the law and Constitution, not one has complained. If they don’t understand why this is needed, they can take their business elsewhere.
This is an emergency prompted by a psychotic who is used to being a tyrant in his personal and business life and is extending his breathtaking personality disorders into the White House. He needs to be stopped.
klastri,
You prove my point. If your firm actually exists and has done as you claim, then it surely must employ people with much disposable time, presuming the 23 employees will be engaged for the duration of this “emergency.” Sixty days is a long time to suspend contracted work for most individuals and firms.
Who said anything about 60 days? Why do you make up things like this? I never wrote that.
And of course, I did not prove your point, so I’m not sure what you’re talking about. We have 1,200 attorneys on the payroll in 11 offices.
klastri,
You are technically correct, Trump’s order bans travel from seven countries for 90 days, suspends all refugee admissions for 120 days, and specifically denies all Syrian refugee admissions indefinitely. I was actually being rather gentle and lenient with you. Care to respond, or is your so-called “emergency” over by this weekend? Are you and your firm committed to Constitutional freedoms for the long haul, or is this merely a crass publicity-seeking stunt?
DeltaDag – Are you drunk? I took a year long leave of absence starting on January 20th to fight him. Many large firms are offering their partners for pro bono fighting Trump.
What law firm is not committed to the Constitution? That’s the guide for our professional and personal lives. Do you read your comments before posting them? Someone should.
Gentle and lenient? I’ve been a litigator for more than 30 years, and you know absolutely nothing. Nothing. Please. Grow up.
klastri..If your firm actually did this I’m sure it would make the headlines in the SA. Haven’t seen anything to back up your claim. What’s up??
You think everyone seeks headlines? How do you think up this stuff?
klastri,
Unless you and your (seemingly large) firm conducts itself as securely as the NSA or DIA, somebody will surely spread the word. Given that, I don’t think sarge22’s doubt is at all unreasonable.
Come on, klastri, were you given explicit orders from your superiors to remain incognito for the duration? Inquiring minds want to know.
DeltaDag – Who said we’re incognito? Why are you lying like this?
Inquiring mind? Of course.
Another question:
Obviously, we live in a very Democratic oriented state as per the percentage of Democrats within Hawai’i. But, if you were to visit the heartland of the US where it is predominately Republicans, is there as much vigor and fight regarding these same rights that are being “violated” by the temporary measure implemented by Trump.
We have a very liberal newspaper here, whereas, the mainland (excluding the bigger cities) are mostly conservative. Are the stories coming out of those news sources basically supporting Trump and lambasting the liberal movement?
In the time it took you to write this comment, you could have done the research required to answer your own questions. This other cities have online newspapers.
This was the case at every international airport across the country.
People are learning to hate Trump everywhere.
We all love President Trump. He is doing the job he was elected to do. Losers beware but keep chirping. Makes my day.
good luck with the suits. you’re gonna need it.
No, we’re not. The law is solidly behind us, and since Trump and his staff appear to be complete buffoons, I don’t think this will be too heavy a lift.
klastri,
Are you applying the same keen legal mind, experience and education that confidently predicted a resounding Trump defeat last year?
And tell us, as someone who claims to support the Constitution and the legal process, why do consistently use the popular vote results to delegitimize Trump’s victory? That IS what you intend is it not? Last I noticed, the Electoral College certification process was and still is “the law of the land.”
DeltaDag – I understand. You are suggesting that predicting an election result is the same as interpreting the Constitution and the law. I’m going to guess here that you were not the President of your university Debate Team. Am I right?
I have not written anything, ever, to delegitimize Mr. Trump’s victory. Sadly for the entire world, he is the President. What I have written is the fact that his and his staff’s constantly claiming he has a mandate is a lie. No one who soundly loses a popular vote has a mandate. Not ever.
klastri,
You are correct, I was indeed not a president of a university debate team. I will say though, that someone with the raw intelligence, legal education, and experience you profess to have, to be so profoundly wrong on a major and long-existing issue calls into question the ability to see things as they are and not how you’d like them to be.
As for Trump and his staff “constantly claiming he has a mandate,” I do not recall a consistent, let alone constant, declaration of a mandate by Trump or his close staff members. Would you care to present a list of the last ten incidents the word “mandate” was actually used (in chronological order)?
And finally (though this thread is pretty old by now) I’d like to ask anyone reading this to support klastri’s claim that he has never once written anything to delegitimize Donald Trump’s victory. “Never” meaning what it commonly means.
klastri,
No list yet? So you can’t copy and paste even a mere ten examples? How about we give your overtaxed mind a much needed handicap. Show me just SEVEN examples of President Trump or his closest advisors or staff using the word “mandate” in any speech or interview in the last two weeks. That averages to just 1/2 use of the word for each day for a fortnight.
If you can’t do it, that’s fine. Just creep or ooze over to your vaunted firm’s nearest whiteboard and scrawl “I shall not post lies on the Star-Advertiser’s comments section.” I think one thousand repetitions is appropriate penance, don’t you?
We now await one of your patented hackneyed replies.
Why don’t they step up to prosecute the millions of illegals
The reason why sanctuary cities exist is because many, many people do not see being an illegal alien as a crime, much like why homelessness or not having a (or actively seeking) a job is not regarded as a crime by many in Hawaii.
If you ask a random HPD officer about enforcement of certain laws that often affect the homeless, such as “sit-lie” prohibitions or camping without a permit, many of them would tell you (off the record) that they don’t like enforcing laws that criminalize homelessness or what passed as vagrancy in the past.
So you beleive that being homeless is a crime?
CCH,
Please endeavor to read carefully. Regarding my remarks about the enforcement of laws affecting the homeless, I simply stated the situation as it is.
Next time you see your friendly neighborhood HPD officer, why don’t you engage him or her in a discussion about a line officer’s feeling about enforcing such laws? Hear it from the horses’ mouth so to speak.
I wonder if the shoe were on the other foot and it was Americans that were illegally immigrating to other countries. How would an american be treated in say China, Russia or most any other country for that matter?
They would be jailed right? The penalties would probably vary from country to country but it would be illegal in all of them correct?
Do you want to be like China, Russia or most any other country?
I see. So you are holding those countries up as role models for us to aspire to? That is quite a concept.
Don’t you think that they should be taking clues from us about how to treat people?
I read your comments and wonder how you could possibly think this way. It’s shocking.
Samidunn: What are you talking about? Specific agencies have the authorization to prosecute people. One cannot just volunteer to do that.
samidunn – Your comment shows the ignorance of Trump supporters.
Private lawyers do not prosecute Federal criminal cases. This is seventh grade Civics.
My God, there must be 200 volunteer lawyers for each traveler who may have been delayed a few hours while being vetted by Homeland Security. The liberal response to Trump’s EO is overblown, out of control and ridiculous.
IRT Ronin006, fully agree with your post. The Dept. of Homeland Security has just a handful of detainees and 200 volunteer lawyers standing in line to represent each one. You made my day. Mahalo.
Thousands of people were prevented from entering – at least until they had representation. A handful? What are you talking about?
Agreed
Ronin006 – If it was you or your family in an airport jail, you might think differently. I spent 24 hours straight at an airport and worked every minute. This is a large problem that requires immediate action. I’m going back to the airport today.
Trump is a psychotic. You’ll figure that out sooner or later.
With regard to the headline and this story: who gives a rip? The only news worth reporting by the biased politically bent liberal media are stories that push the liberal agenda and villify conservative values while crucifying Trump every second of the day.
Trump is begging to be crucified. The singular focus of his Oath was to protect and defend the Constitution, and he has instead chosen to soil all over it. Let the crucifixion begin.
Look what Chuckie the Cryer said:
“We must tighten loopholes in the Visa Waiver prgm, ensure passports can’t be faked & stop terrorists who want to exploit the system.”
Chuck Schumer Nov. 19, 2015
https://twitter.com/SenSchumer/status/667408740858134528?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
“Chuckie the Cryer?” Are you eight years old?
None of what Mr. Schumer said suggested an unconstitutional and illegal religious test. Mr. Trump obviously enacted one.
Well stocked with ketchup and mustard.
What ever they’re doing let’s hope their help doesn’t include those professional enemies of our country in the guise of helpless immigrates in need. Dissensions among ranks in any army can easily be overcome by the enemies. Presently our country’s dissensions among ourselves is an opportunity for the enemies of our USA to overcome our unguarded lives. We are too engrossed criticizing our new President and defying him, the majority can’t and won’t recognized our enemies and their deviousness to destroy us! Did The Ugy American of Eugene Burdick and William Lederer has left the foreign soil and return home?
Have you always been this afraid? This is sad.
don’t forget at that time they were being detained delta air cancelled hundreds of flights because of a computer failure so a lot of those people could not get out anyway. and were being detained only 18 of them.
This, obviously to anyone on earth except you, had nothing whatever to do with delta Air Lines. Nothing.
Today might be a good day to stop lying.
Who is lying now—This, obviously to anyone on earth except you, had nothing whatever to do with delta Air Lines. Nothing.—-“Delta Air Lines Inc.’s grounding of U.S. flights was lifted after almost two and a half hours, ending the second disruption among major U.S. domestic airlines in just one week.
The Federal Aviation Administration, which said “automation issues” at Delta were to blame, in a later statement said the grounding was canceled. Delta’s international flights were exempt from the problem.
Delta’s computer outage prompted stranded passengers from Houston to Atlanta to take to social media as flights stayed grounded at airports. United Continental Holdings Inc. last week had to ground its U.S. flights following a computer failure. While that outage resulted in relatively few cancellations, it lasted about two and a half hours.
Atlanta-based Delta, the second-largest U.S. airline, operates almost 6,000 flights a day during peak summer months, according to a Delta release from August. The airline operates more than 800 aircraft and flies almost 180 million passengers a year.
The latest problem at Delta struck just as airlines struggled to comply with new travel restrictions following President Donald Trump’s executive order blocking travelers from seven predominantly Muslim nations. Parts of the order were temporarily blocked by judges.”
Mr. Trump tried to tie people in airports with signs complaining about him were associated with Delta Air Lines. That is an obvious lie – one the more obvious of his unending lies.
He’s a psychotic and you are his apologist.