Protestors Rally at JFK Airport as Lawyers Say ‘Dozens’ Detained Over President Trump’s Immigration Order

Lawyers say dozens of travelers from countries named in President Trump’s recent executive order were held at John F. Kennedy International Airport and other airports Saturday amid confusion about whether they could legally enter the country. At least two of the detained were legal U.S. visa holders who were not allowed to speak to their attorneys for several hours.

“Both recipients have approved visas, got on a plane before executive order was signed, arrived and were then detained,” says Lara Finkbeiner, deputy legal director for the International Refugee Assistance Project, which represents two of the twelve detainees. “We have no idea how they’re doing.”

As of early afternoon on a Saturday, one of the detainees, Iraqi citizen Hameed Khalid Darweesh, 53, was released. Darweesh worked as an interpreter for the U.S. military in Iraq, which caused local militia to threaten his life.

Julie Kornfeld, a lawyer working to secure the release of the other known detainee Haider Sameer Abdukhaleg Alshawi, 33, said that he arrived Friday around 8:30 p.m. from Sweden. Kornfeld says his wife had been “very emotional,” and had not slept since her husband was detained. Alshawi’s family members had worked for a U.S. security contractor in Iraq.