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Disorder at Airports as Travelers Are Detained Without Lawyers Disorder at Airports as Travelers Are Detained Without Lawyers
(35 minutes later)
Drab airport screening areas and waiting rooms were transformed into chaotic scenes on Sunday, as lawyers reported that border agents abruptly changed people’s travel plans, put pressure on detainees and created an information blackout that left much of the country struggling to discern how President Trump’s immigration order was being applied. Drab airport screening areas and waiting rooms were transformed into chaotic scenes on Sunday, with lawyers saying that border agents had put pressure on detainees and created an information blackout that left many struggling to discern how President Trump’s immigration order was being applied.
In New York, a lawyer said detainees were being moved from one terminal to another in handcuffs over the weekend. In Los Angeles, a graduate student reported that border agents had pushed her to sign documents that let them send her out of the country. And in the Washington area, agents told lawyers that upper management had barred detainees from getting legal help, despite a court ordering that legal permanent residents be given access to lawyers. In New York, a lawyer said detainees were being moved from one terminal to another in handcuffs. In Los Angeles, an Iranian graduate student was pushed by border agents to sign documents allowing them to send her out of the country, her lawyers said. And in the Washington area, agents told lawyers that officials had barred detainees from getting legal help, despite a federal judge’s order that legal permanent residents be given access to lawyers.
Panic gave way to euphoria, in some cases, as travelers detained for many hours were released and reunited with relatives. But well into Sunday, two days after Mr. Trump signed an executive order keeping many foreigners from entering the country, lawyers were still sweeping airport arrival sections in search of waiting relatives, often their only source of information about who was being held. Panic gave way to euphoria in some cases as travelers who had been detained for many hours were released and reunited with relatives. But well into Sunday, two days after Mr. Trump signed an executive order keeping many foreigners from entering the country, lawyers were still sweeping airport arrival sections in search of waiting relatives, often their only source of information about who was being held.
Some detainees described sleeping on office chairs. In Los Angeles, lawyers said Customs and Border Protection agents told them there were cots, but declined to say how many there were, or how many people were being held. Lawyers and relatives were growing increasingly concerned about older detainees with medical problems. Some detainees said they had slept on office chairs. In Los Angeles, lawyers said Customs and Border Protection agents had told them there were cots but had declined to say how many there were, or how many people were being held. Detainees were told their phones would be disruptive and had to be taken. Lawyers and relatives were growing increasingly concerned about older detainees with medical problems.
Among them were an Iranian couple who had arrived in Los Angeles on visitors’ visas. The man, in his late 60s, had been through two open-heart operations, and he and his wife, in her late 50s, were both diabetic. After arriving at the airport on Saturday afternoon, they were allowed to call their daughter in the United States only once, around 1 a.m. on Sunday, said Patricia Corrales, a private lawyer working on detainees’ cases there. Relatives and lawyers were hounding border agents to ensure that the couple received proper medical care, but learned nothing further. Among those with ailments were an Iranian couple who had arrived in Los Angeles on visitors’ visas. The man, in his late 60s, had been through two open-heart operations, and he and his wife, in her late 50s, were both diabetic. After arriving at the airport on Saturday afternoon, they were allowed to call their daughter in the United States only once, around 1 a.m. on Sunday, said Patricia Corrales, a private lawyer working on detainees’ cases there. Relatives and lawyers repeatedly asked whether the couple were receiving proper medical care but learned nothing further from border agents.
Ms. Corrales, who for 17 years had been a lawyer with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said, “I think they don’t necessarily have the resources, the staff and experience to deal with these large numbers.” Ms. Corrales, who was an Immigration and Customs Enforcement lawyer for 17 years, said, “I think they don’t necessarily have the resources, the staff and experience to deal with these large numbers.”
Some detainees reported being pressured to sign documents they hardly understood, and then being put on flights out of the country. When two brothers from Yemen, Tareq Aqel Mohammed Aziz, 21, and Ammar, 19, landed Saturday morning at Dulles Airport near Washington with immigrant visas, they planned to board a connecting flight to Flint, Mich., to join their father. Instead, they were taken off the plane, put into handcuffs and told they needed to sign a form or face being barred from the country for five years, said their lawyer, Simon Y. Sandoval-Moshenberg, of the Legal Aid Justice Center in Virginia. They signed the form and were quickly put on a plane to Ethiopia. In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security said, “We are committed to ensuring that all individuals affected by the executive orders, including those affected by the court orders, are being provided all rights afforded under the law.”
A 24-year-old Iranian woman told relatives of a similar problem at Los Angeles International Airport, where she arrived on Saturday from a trip visiting family members in Europe. She told relatives that border agents asked her to sign documents waiving her request to enter the country, said Ms. Corrales and Judy London, the directing attorney of the nonprofit Public Counsel’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, both of whom spoke with the woman’s relatives. A second-year graduate student in the United States, the woman was traveling on a student visa. If she did not sign, the student told relatives, the agents warned that her name would be added to a list that would prevent her from returning to the United States in the future. Some detainees were reportedly pressured to sign documents they hardly understood and then put on flights out of the country. When two brothers from Yemen, Tareq Aqel Mohammed Aziz, 21, and Ammar, 19, landed on Saturday morning at Dulles International Airport near Washington with immigrant visas, they planned to board a connecting flight to Flint, Mich., to join their father. Instead, they were taken off the plane, put into handcuffs and told they needed to sign a form or face being barred from the country for five years, said their lawyer, Simon Y. Sandoval-Moshenberg, of the Legal Aid Justice Center in Virginia. They signed the form and were quickly put on a plane to Ethiopia.
The Iranian student signed. She had not been able to consult a lawyer and was permitted only three calls to relatives before her phone was confiscated and searched. By Saturday night, the woman was on a plane back to Europe, the lawyers said. They declined to share her name out of concern for her safety. A 24-year-old Iranian woman who is a graduate student in the United States told relatives of a similar problem at Los Angeles International Airport, where she arrived on Saturday after a trip visiting family members in Europe. Border agents told the woman that her student visa was no longer valid, which lawyers said was not true, and that if she did not sign a document saying she was leaving voluntarily, she would be forcibly deported and barred from entry for five years.
On Sunday morning, Ms. Corrales spoke to a supervisor from the customs agency, who suggested that the Iranian student was still at the Los Angeles airport. The supervisor told Ms. Corrales that “they were waiting for orders from higher-ups in terms of how to enforce the injunction,” Ms. Corrales said, referring to the federal court rulings that blocked part of the immigration order. The Iranian student signed. She had not been allowed to consult a lawyer and was permitted only three calls to relatives before her phone was confiscated and searched, said Ms. Corrales and Judy London, the directing attorney of the nonprofit Public Counsel’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, both of whom spoke with the woman’s relatives. On Saturday night, after a federal judge in Brooklyn ruled the government could not remove travelers who had arrived with valid visas, she was put on a plane back to Europe, her lawyers said. They declined to share her name out of concern for her safety.
Some detainees dealt with the whiplash of plans changing by the hour. A group of five Iranians detained in New York told family members on Sunday morning that the government planned to put them on a 1:30 p.m. flight back to Turkey, said Melanie Zuch, a staff lawyer at the Urban Justice Center, in what she said would have violated the order handed down late Saturday by a federal judge in Brooklyn. Several hours later, some of them were told they would be allowed to stay. On Sunday morning, Ms. Corrales spoke to a supervisor from the customs agency who suggested that the Iranian student was still at the Los Angeles airport. The supervisor told Ms. Corrales that “they were waiting for orders from higher-ups in terms of how to enforce the injunction,” Ms. Corrales said, referring to the Brooklyn judge’s ruling.
Some detainees dealt with the whiplash of plans changing by the hour. A group of five Iranians detained in New York told family members on Sunday morning that the government planned to put them on a 1:30 p.m. flight back to Turkey, said Melanie Zuch, a staff lawyer at the Urban Justice Center. Several hours later, some of them were told they would be allowed to stay.
Vahideh Rasekhi, a graduate student at Stony Brook University on Long Island who was also detained at Kennedy Airport, said she and other detainees were also told they would be put on flights back out of the country, with agents promising only that if they held out a little longer, they might work out a way to keep them in the United States. Eventually they did, and shortly after 2:30 p.m., Ms. Rasekhi walked into Terminal 4 and was immediately surrounded by loved ones, lawyers and journalists.Vahideh Rasekhi, a graduate student at Stony Brook University on Long Island who was also detained at Kennedy Airport, said she and other detainees were also told they would be put on flights back out of the country, with agents promising only that if they held out a little longer, they might work out a way to keep them in the United States. Eventually they did, and shortly after 2:30 p.m., Ms. Rasekhi walked into Terminal 4 and was immediately surrounded by loved ones, lawyers and journalists.
“I’m just so exhausted,” she said.“I’m just so exhausted,” she said.
She said that detainees had been given meals and water, and that agents had even satisfied one person’s request for a lemon. Others gave accounts of more difficult conditions, with one lawyer, Justin Orr, saying some detainees had been given nothing but chocolate to eat. She said that detainees had been given meals and water and that agents had even satisfied one person’s request for a lemon. Others gave accounts of more difficult conditions; one lawyer, Justin Orr, said some detainees had been given nothing but chocolate to eat.
In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security said: “We are committed to ensuring that all individuals affected by the executive orders, including those affected by the court orders, are being provided all rights afforded under the law.” Mousa Ahmadi, 30, an Iranian graduate student at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, gave a long hug to his sister, Dr. Fahimeh Ahmadi, 40, after she was released from additional screening at Kennedy. The siblings had not seen each other for over three years.
Lawyers at J.F.K. said that about half a dozen detainees were still in custody by late Sunday afternoon. The Los Angeles Police Department told lawyers there, earlier on Sunday, that about 40 people were being held. Dr. Ahmadi, a general practitioner in the Australian city of Gold Coast and a dual citizen of Australia and Iran, arrived for a long-planned visit without the siblings’ parents, who hold only Iranian passports and canceled their flights on Saturday.
“My Mom said, ‘If they don’t let me in the country do you think I can see him even for a half hour?’” Dr. Ahmadi recalled. “She said, ‘Is there a window where I can see him?’”
Lawyers at J.F.K. said that about half a dozen detainees were still in custody by late Sunday afternoon. The Los Angeles Police Department told lawyers there earlier on Sunday that about 40 people were being held.
A federal judge in Alexandria, Va., on Saturday ordered government officials to give lawyers access to all legal permanent residents being detained at Dulles. But when lawyers showed border agents there the court order and requested access to detainees, a supervisor replied, “That’s not going to happen.”A federal judge in Alexandria, Va., on Saturday ordered government officials to give lawyers access to all legal permanent residents being detained at Dulles. But when lawyers showed border agents there the court order and requested access to detainees, a supervisor replied, “That’s not going to happen.”
Matt Zeller, who runs No One Left Behind, a group that helps bring over Iraqis and Afghans who worked for the military, said he was told that there were 40 to 55 people who had been pulled aside by customs officers at Dulles on Sunday evening, and that at least some were Iraqis, though it was not clear if any had worked for the military. Those who had been released overnight — many of whom had green cards — spoke of hours of uncertainty as they waited to find out if they would be allowed into a country that they called home but that no longer seemed to want them. Matt Zeller, who runs No One Left Behind, a group that helps bring over Iraqis and Afghans who worked for the military, said he was told that there were 40 to 55 people who had been pulled aside by customs officers at Dulles on Sunday evening, and that at least some were Iraqis, although it was not clear if any had worked for the military. Detainees who had been released overnight — many of whom had green cards — spoke of hours of uncertainty as they waited to find out if they would be allowed into a country that they called home but that no longer seemed to want them.
“This is not the America that I have lived in. We used to be treated with respect. This is the land of freedom,” said one man who had been released, Seifollah Moradi, 34, a student from Columbia, Md., who has a green card. He had been held for six hours before being released after returning from Tehran, where he was visiting his sick father. “This is not the America that I have lived in,” said one man who had been released, Seifollah Moradi, 34, a student from Columbia, Md., who has a green card. “We used to be treated with respect. This is the land of freedom.”
Protesters, who were lined up just past the set of one-way doors that separate the public areas of the Dulles arrival hall from the immigration and baggage claim areas for international flights, cheered loudly as Mr. Moradi came through the doors. They chanted, “Welcome to the U.S.A.” and “No hate, no fear, refugees are welcome here.” Mr. Moradi had been held for six hours after returning from Tehran, where he was visiting his sick father.
Mr. Moradi hardly seemed to notice. Protesters, who were lined up just past the set of one-way doors that separate the public areas of the Dulles arrival hall from the immigration and baggage claim areas for international flights, cheered loudly as Mr. Moradi came through the doors. They chanted, “Welcome to the U.S.A.,” and, “No hate, no fear, refugees are welcome here.”
Mr. Moradi, his face drawn, hardly seemed to notice.